AT&T vs Verizon Over Comparative Advertising
It seems like it is the season to sue. Just recently, we talked about Nokia suing Apple due to patent infringement. We also talked a bit about the battle of the printer manufacturers, with HP always figuring in a few — HP sued generic printer ink cartridge manufacturers for patent infringement, and again Kodak for advertising issues. One would think these bigwigs have nothing better to do; we are guessing they have to find a way to make use of those fat retainers they have to pay their equally bigwig lawyers each month.
This time around, it is the battle of mobile phone carriers. AT&T is suing Verizon wireless for allegedly stepping over that imaginary line that has been drawn for legitimate comparative advertising, as indicated in their lawsuit, which was filed at the Atlanta federal court.
The point of contention is an ad campaign launched by Verizon Wireless, pointing out differences in 3G coverage. The maps that Verizon used in its campaign are reportedly misleading people, according to AT&T, to think that the carrier has no network coverage in certain areas where coverage is available.
It can be recalled that since AT&T became the carrier of choice for the Apple iPhone, the company has been able to gain a market share from Verizon Wireless during the July to September quarter of this year. With the Verizon Wireless map campaign, however, AT&T is losing “incalculable market share”.
Verizon counters, though, that the ads clearly state that even if there is no 3G coverage, voice and data services will still be available. However, we will have to agree in a way with AT&T in that the visual effect of seeing blank spaces in a map can psychologically indicate absence of services – regardless of what those services may be.
We will just wait and see where this latest legal battle may lead. Then, on to the next one?
Tags: AT&T against Verizon, AT&T lawsuit, AT&T legal case over Verizon, AT&T sues Verizon, AT&T versus Verizon, Verizon lawsuitRelated posts
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Loading ...Posted by PrintFriendly on November 4th, 2009
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November 5, 2009 @ 5:16 am
[...] comparative ad may have just come and passed – and eventually forgotten – had this lawsuit not brought it out [...]