Judge Nicola Mathers reserved her decision yesterday at the end of a three-day court case brought by a car alarm distributor against a competing business that in 1998 criticised one of its products.
The hearing yesterday was mainly taken up with closing addresses by counsel for Mongoose New Zealand and the
defendant, Ultimate Security Systems.
Iain Hutcheson, for Ultimate, said Mongoose marketed its MX750S car alarm in New Zealand alleging it met standard certification, but it did not.
He said Mark Richards, a director of Ultimate in September 1998, had not acted out of malice but out of a desire to uphold a standard for car alarms when he informed a number of agencies, including the Insurance Council, that he believed the MX750S did not meet the standard.
Mr Hutcheson said Mongoose was claiming damages for lost sales of the MX750S but there was no evidence of any lost sales of the device.
For Mongoose, Zane Kennedy said the allegations made by Mr Richards were false.
There was no suggestion that Mongoose marketed anything other than an alarm that was certified to a standard.
Mr Kennedy said much of the evidence presented by the defendants about perceived failings of the MX750S alarm was irrelevant.
Mr Richards' actions indicated a malicious intent, he said.
Mongoose and Ultimate Security Systems were the only two companies at the time marketing alarms with standard certification.
The "attack" on Mongoose resulted in lost sales of about $44,500.
