NEW YORK - Stun gun maker Taser International Inc. said on Friday it had filed a lawsuit against Gannett Co. Inc. , accusing the USA Today parent of libeling its weapons.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company said the lawsuit, filed in an Arizona state court, targets a USA Today article on June 3 which it said misrepresented the electrical output of Taser weapons and compared them in photographs with electric chairs, lightning and electric train tracks.
A representative for Gannett, which is also the parent company of the Arizona Republic newspaper, was not immediately available for comment.
Taser accused Gannett of publishing a series of misleading articles about its products, which disable victims with a 50,000-volt shock.
"Over the course of this biased campaign, more than $1 billion dollars of shareholder value has been erased," Taser Chief Executive Rick Smith said in a statement.
Taser shares have lost 11.5 percent over the past month and 68 percent so far this year.
