AT&T Sues Verizon Over 'Misleading' Ad Campaign

Remember the 'There's a map for that' ad from Verizon where the carrier claims that they have five times more 3G coverage than AT&T? 

AT&T is not happy with the way their network coverage has been portrayed in the ad and has now filed a lawsuit against Verizon for what the company says are claims that confuse the consumers. 

In the lawsuit filed, AT&T says that the company seeks "only an order prohibiting Verizon from displaying, in the "Bench" advertisement, or in any other advertisement, a map of AT&T's "3G" coverage in which AT&T's non-"3G" coverage areas are depicted by white or blank space, to prevent consumers from being misled by the maps into believing that AT&T offers no wireless service in large parts of the United States". 

We feel that AT&T's position is understandable. By depicting only the 3G network on the maps, a lot many of the consumers might be led to believe that AT&T does not work outside the marked areas.

Apparently, Verizon had already been approached by AT&T over this issue at which point, the ad was edited to replace the "out of touch" phrase with "Voice and data services available outside of 3G areas". However, AT&T saw this as doing precious little to allay doubts among consumers regarding AT&T's connectivity and chose to take the legal route.

The past few weeks have seen Verizon take an aggressive approach in promoting their affiliated products and services. The company had recently also targeted the iPhone in its promotional campaign for Motorola Droid. While the mileage gained out of this strategy is yet to be measured (Droid incidentally launches tomorrow), it sure has created a lot of buzz and hype. 

The Verizon commercials have been on air for quite some time now and we wonder if AT&T has been a little late in its reaction. Has the damage already been done? What do you think? Please tell us in the comments. 

[via Engadget Mobile]

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