By Wojtek Dabrowski
TORONTO (Reuters) - Telus Corp said on Tuesday it had obtained a court injunction preventing rival Rogers Communications from claiming its wireless network is the most reliable in Canada.
The injunction is part of a lawsuit Telus recently filed against Rogers, which also challenged Rogers' claims that its network is the country's fastest.
"Our sole interest in filing the suit was to have Rogers remove what we always believed was a false, misleading and harmful claim from their advertising and this orders them to do that," said Telus spokesman Shawn Hall.
The "fastest" claim is no longer an issue in the suit, as Rogers has decided not to use it in its current advertising campaign, according to a Supreme Court of British Columbia document outlining the reasons for judgment in the case.
Judge J. Christopher Grauer said in the document that the injunction's timing and exact terms have yet to be worked out. The case is scheduled back in court on Friday.
"What is clear from the evidence before me is that the present network technology is at least equivalent between Rogers and Telus," Grauer states.
"I conclude ... that the balance of convenience favors the granting of an order restraining Rogers from continuing to represent, without appropriate qualification, that it provides 'Canada's Most Reliable Network.'"
Rogers was not immediately available for comment.
Telus had claimed that Rogers' advertising claims were false and misleading since November 5, when Telus launched its own upgraded wireless network.
Telus teamed up with BCE Inc, which operates Bell Canada, on the upgrade. Until this month, Rogers was the only carrier in Canada using GSM wireless technology, which effectively granted it a monopoly on Apple Inc's iPhone.
Since the upgrade, both BCE and Telus have been selling the iPhone.
(Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
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