<< See all Yahoo! Tech News

AT&T sues Verizon in Ga. over 'map for that' ads

  • Posted on - Tue Nov 3, 2009 11:18PM EST
  • Add articles about technology to your My Yahoo! add to My Yahoo!

Recent Tech News Stories

 
ATLANTA -

AT&T Inc. is suing Verizon Wireless over its competitor's "There's a Map for That" commercials, saying in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the ads are misleading and amount to deceptive trade practices.

AT&T filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and is asking for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads. The company requests an immediate hearing and said AT&T has "suffered and continues to suffer irreparable harm" as a result of the commercials.

Verizon's ads show maps of the United States with areas highlighted to depict where third generation — or "3G" — network coverage — which allows users to access data faster — is available. The maps use red for Verizon and blue for AT&T to show where each company offers 3G coverage. Areas where 3G is not available are left blank.

In one ad, the narrator says, "If you want to know why your 3G coverage works so well on Verizon Wireless, there's a map for that," and a map of the country nearly covered with red dots is shown. The narrator later says "If you want to know why some people have spotty G3 coverage, there's a map for that, too" and a map of the country with some blue areas and a lot of blank space is shown to ostensibly show AT&T's 3G coverage.

AT&T says those maps are misleading because there is still regular coverage in areas where "3G" service is not offered.

Verizon modified the ads after AT&T complained about them saying its customers were "out of touch" where 3G coverage was unavailable. Those words were taken out and Verizon included a tag line saying "Voice & data services available outside 3G coverage areas" at the end of the ads.

Verizon spokeswoman Nancy Stark said the ads are an extension of Verizon's long-standing network reliability "Can you hear me now?" campaign and the changes that were made are sufficient.

"As to the merits of the suit, there aren't any," she said Tuesday. "The ads are clearly labeled 3G coverage and they also clearly state that voice and data service is available outside the 3G coverage area."

The Verizon commercials mock Apple's popular "There's an App for That" spots touting the thousands of applications that can be used on the iPhone. AT&T provides coverage for the iPhone.

Product Categories

Computers Home Office Wi-Fi & Networking Phones & PDAs Cameras & Camcorders TV & Home Theater Portable Audio

Today On...

Upgrades thumbnail
Upgrades

Download Internet Explorer 8

Get the new Internet Explorer 8 optimized for Yahoo!. Read More

Yahoo! Search thumbnail
Yahoo! Search

Play full songs for free

Search for music artists and listen to full songs right on the search page. Read More


My Tech

Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.


Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Question and Answer content at Yahoo! Tech is written by Yahoo! users at Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. For more information, read the Full Disclaimer.

Opinions expressed by the Advisors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! receives no compensation from any manufacturer or distributor nor does it compensate any Advisor for the coverage of any product or service in any Advisor's content.