AT&T filed suit in Federal District Court in Atlanta, Georgia — home to AT&T — late today in an effort to put the kibosh on some of the most effective Verizon TV ads they’ve run in a while. Apparently the “There’s a map for that” ads by Verizon used in concert with the November 6th launch of the Motorola Droid phone are not only hurting AT&T’s public image, but are causing irreparable harm.

To be honest, they have a point about the ads being a bit misleading. Whether or not it’s as serious as they claim is another story.

The “College” television advertisement starts the same way as the
“Bench” advertisement, promoting why customers can do various things on
Verizon’s network at “3G” speed and referencing Verizon’s “3G” coverage map.
47. The announcer’s voice then changes, and he says “and if you want to
know why some people have spotty “3G” coverage, there’s a map for that.”
48. The “3G” coverage map ofAT&T then appears on the screen showing
large swaths of white or blank spaces. The character in the commercial tries to use
his wireless device but shakes his head expressing disappointment.
49. As with the misleading “Bench” advertisement, by depicting AT&T’s
non-”3G” coverage as white or blank space in the map used in Verizon’s “College”
advertisement, and depicting an AT&T customer as being frustrated with his
wireless device, this advertisement misleads consumers into believing that
AT&T’s customers have no coverage whatsoever and thus cannot use their
wireless devices when they are outside ofAT&T’s depicted coverage area.

The full measure of damages that AT&T will continue to suffer from the publication of Verizon’s misleading claims is difficult if not impossible to calculate [snip] No amount of corrective advertising would undo the damage.

Download the Legal Complaint in PDF

One of the Verizon ads behind the controversy