Would this be "Business Interference"?

[drdiesel]

State - Colorado

Not entirely sure this belongs in this forum, but trying anyway. Please move it if need be.

My company has two clients that we acquired from a local competitor. These clients were acquired legally (i.e. we didn't slander the competitor in anyway) but he has many more clients that we wish to target because we feel they are being ripped off by this competitor.

To target these clients we are debating on sending them marketing material. Is this illegal to do? Would it be considered "Business Interference"? We have absolutely no intention of slandering our competition or even mentioning any specifics of the business relationship between the prospective client and our competitor.

However, what I need to know is if I specifically target these clients can I get sued for "Business Interference"? Or if I keep our marketing material generic and general is that enough?

Any advice is appreciated, I can't seem to get a straight answer on this from anywhere.

Thank you!

 

[drdiesel]

Anyone have any comments to this post? Suggestions maybe?

 

[JETX]

If you simply send them your information as a 'marketing effort', that wouldn't be interference.
However, there are some caveats:
1) How were these potential customers found?? If they were found via any information taken or 'borrowed' from another companies client list, problem.
2) Do NOT defame anyone or company. You are best to NOT mention them directly or indirectly.

 

[drdiesel]

The first client was found by my business partner. He uses her company for services and they simple "got to talking" and the rest is history.

The second company was found by searching the Internet for our competitors phone number (he wouldn't return any of our calls to get first client's information released to her so we were assisting). Received phone number from client #2 and while on the phone (she did not know we were a competitor, did not want to seam as though we were hunting him down to get information). She mentioned that if we got a hold of him (she couldn't either) to let him know she wanted a call back. One thing led to another and client #2 knew client #1 and talked with her regarding our services. We never did talk to her about our services until after she came "back" to us for additional information.

Damn, I hope that's not too confusing, sounded better in my head than on paper.