Medical equipment maker 3M has launched a lawsuit against an Ontario firm it alleges falsely affiliated itself with the Minnesota-based company to sell highly sought after N95 respirators at "exorbitant" prices.
The lawsuit against the directors of Caonic Systems Inc. - Zhiyu Pu and Harmen Mander - was filed on Tuesday in Ontario Superior Court in Windsor.
According to the notice of application, the defendants registered the web domain '3M-Health.com' on the Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify in order to sell the masks they claimed were produced by 3M certified suppliers in Singapore and the United Kingdom. After 3M complained, the site was closed only to be reopened on the same platform under the new name 'www.tormenhealth.com'. That site was also closed following objections from 3M.
It is then claimed Caonic Systems relaunched briefly on another platform, selling the N95 respirators for $17 each, five times the suggested $3 retail price.
"At 3M we are working hard to continue to increase production of respirators for the healthcare workers who need them the most in the fight against COVID-19," Denise Rutherford, 3M senior vice president of corporate affairs, said in a statement. "We are dedicated to putting a stop to those who are trying to cash in on this crisis and have taken legal action when we've identified illegal behaviour in New York, California, Florida, Texas, and now Canada."
3M is requesting the court order Caonic identify the location of any remaining respirators in its possession and share sales and customer information. The company, which has its Canadian head office in London, would then evaluate the authenticity of any recovered respirators. Should they turn out to be 3M produced masks, the company would support returning them "for use in efforts to fight COVID-19." If the respirators are not authentic, 3M said it would notify Caonic's customers.
3M said it would donate any damages recovered from the lawsuit to COVID-19-related nonprofit organizations.
None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven in court.
Similar legal action has been filed by 3M in four U.S. states over the past week. According to the company, it has taken these measures to stop counterfeiters and price gougers from capitalizing on the global pandemic.
The N95 respirator has become a vital piece of personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare workers battling COVID-19. The overwhelming demand for the product has led to shortages worldwide and was breifly at the centre of a dispute between the White House and 3M. The Trump Administration had ordered 3M to save all of its stock for Americans earlier this month. But the order received push back from the company due to the humanitarian implications withholding the medical supplies during a pandemic would create. An agreement was quickly established between the two sides that allows the masks to continue to be shipped to Canada and Latin America.
