A company that produces N95 masks, which are in high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, is suing a business in Ontario for price gouging and claiming false affiliation, according to CTV News.
The company—3M—is responsible for making N95 respirators. The company, based in Minnesota, claims that Caonic Systems Inc. directors registered a website on Shopify and called it 3M-Health.com. They used the website to sell masks, claiming that they were coming from the United Kingdom and Singapore.
In the lawsuit filed by 3M in the Ontario Superior Court, it alleges that Caonic Systems Inc. began marking up prices on the masks and was selling them for $17 each, which is over five times as much as the retail price.
After 3M’s request, the domain was closed by Shopify. According to 3M, another website was opened by defendants, Harem Mander and Zhiyu, “immediately” afterwards and was still claiming to be affiliated with 3M. The new website was called www.tormenhealth.com.
A news release by 3M Canada said: “After Shopify shut the second site, Caonic persisted, relaunching briefly on another platform.”
Mander said that the company sold under 50 packs of the medical equipment in the time the store was online when speaking with CTV News.
He said they planned to use the money they made to start a non-profit platform to help businesses that were shut down since the pandemic began.
“We are university students, when the virus started in January, we noticed that a lot of schools were still operating as usual. Classrooms were packed. Many students, including ourselves, were concerned about our own personal safety,” Mander wrote in an email.
“Our goal has always been to help small businesses, our communities, and friends and family around us.”
3M has requested courts order Caonic to help find the remaining respirators and provide customer and sales information.
If 3M can confirm that the masks are legitimate, they plan to continue to use them in the fight against coronavirus.
They added that they will inform customers if the masks are not authentic.
“Once the respirators are recovered, 3M will pursue damages. 3M will donate any damages recovered to COVID-19-related non-profit organizations.”
Shopify said it has had to close over 5,000 stores that have violated its policy.
“Our teams continue to actively review COVID-19 related products and businesses, and stores that violate our policies will be immediately taken down.”
The company said it is having similar issues in the United States.
“The company is working with online retailers and technology companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook to identify and remove counterfeiters and price gougers from their sites and refer them to law enforcement authorities.” said 3M
The company added that anyone with suspicions of price gouging, fraudulent activity or counterfeit products can report it on their website.
Canadian health-care workers have been in need of N95 masks since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
An emergency order was issued by Ontario last month, as a preventative measure against individuals or retailers who plan to charge what Premier Doug Ford referred to as unfair prices for medical equipment.
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