Q: I operate a long-distance telecommunication company. Verizon and Sprint are constantly running campaigns aimed at my clients and offering incentives for them to “switch over.” May I run a similar campaign to attract new clients, which will also target customers of another Jewish-owned telecommunication company?

A: We learned last week about the law of “ma’arufya,” which restricts the right to target another company’s established clients. However, this law does not seem to apply to the current long-distance telecommunication industry.

In this field, there are ongoing battles over clients, and constant offers to switch from one company to another. For this reason, no company has the expectation that its current clients will necessarily stay with them.

Certainly, when there is consistent client competition by non-Jewish companies, it is not possible to restrict a Jew from competing, since restricting him will not protect the other Jewish business anyway (see Rama C.M. 156:5 and Pischei Choshen, Geneivah ch. 9 n. 20).