Legal Question in Business Law in California

How to gather information from unwilling competitiors?

Greetings,

I've found 2 companies who sell their products for far below the cost of the competition and asked them if they could tell me who their suppliers were. One place told me they would call back (they never did) and the other one flat out refused. i was actually surprised by this because i made it clear to them that i would not be competing with them (i live about 20 minutes away from them and my business sells door to door, not through a store)

so my question is this, how can i find out who is supplying them? is this info available publicly? if not i am thinking of modifying a government form and sending it to them, and hopefully they will send it back with the info i want. as long as there is no writing on the form claiming to be a government agency this is legal, right? (I certainly do not to be breaking any laws but if gathering info in such a way is legal I will use it)

Thanks


Asked on 3/22/04, 3:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: How to gather information from unwilling competitiors?

California has unfair competition laws that forbid most instances of selling below cost. There are exceptions for distress sales, etc.

A business that believes in good faith that it is being harmed by a competitor engaging in below-cost sales or similar practices can bring a lawsuit. In the course of the lawsuit, discovery methods such as depositions can be used to uncover the facts.

Otherwise, the identity of the suppliers is none of your business and probably not available to you through any public source. Your promise not to compete would probably not be enforceable, you probably look to them as a potential competitor or maybe just a busybody.

I do not know of any "government form" that the government could legitimately use to obtain this information. If you modified one, the merchant would probably send it back to you in the care of a police officer, stapled to a warrant for your arrest.

Depending upon the product being sold, you might learn the supplier's identity legally by watching the delivery trucks arriving and departing. Other than that, you probably need to do your own suppiier locating and price negotiation work and avoid trying to mis-appropriate someone else's trade secrets.

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Answered on 3/23/04, 2:01 am


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