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AT&T drops lawsuit against Verizon over advertising spat

After failing to have Verizon's advertisements criticizing its network coverage pulled off of the air, AT&T has decided to drop its lawsuit against the nation's largest wireless carrier.

Both Verizon and AT&T filed an official dismissal of the case in an Atlanta, Ga., federal court Wednesday. In addition, a separate lawsuit filed by Verizon against AT&T was also dismissed.

In November, AT&T had asked the court to pull what it felt were "misleading" advertisements from Verizon, criticizing AT&T's nationwide 3G coverage. But a judge later denied that request, noting that though Verizon's ads could be construed as "sneaky," they were not misleading. Both parties were originally set to meet in court on Dec. 16 for a second chance to present their case on the proposed injunction.

The legal dispute began when AT&T filed a complaint, noting the company felt that the advertisements suggested to casual TV viewers that its wireless service did not provide coverage in most of the U.S. Parodying Apple's "There's an app for that" iPhone commercials, Verizon mocked AT&T with the slogan "There's a map for that." While Verizon's commercials highlighted the strength of its 3G data network, AT&T said customers could be mislead to think the television spot was referring to all voice and data connections.

AT&T publicly responded with a series of advertisements featuring actor Luke Wilson. Rather than focusing on 3G coverage, AT&T aimed to "set the record straight" and show that the wireless network reaches 97 percent of all Americans.

In court, Verizon responded to AT&T's claims by suggesting the carrier was overreacting to "the truth" of its wireless data service. It argued that AT&T failed to adequately invest in its own network to support growth of devices.

"AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts," the company had said.

Criticism of AT&T's wireless network mounted after a tough summer, when the launch of the iPhone 3GS led to bandwidth issues for the nation's second largest wireless carrier. Soon after, AT&T publicly acknowledged its own shortcomings and vowed to do better in the future.



28 Comments

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echosonic 17 Years · 462 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts," the company had said.

Criticism of AT&T's wireless network mounted after a tough summer, when the launch of the iPhone 3GS led to bandwidth issues for the nation's second largest wireless carrier. Soon after, AT&T publicly acknowledged its own shortcomings and vowed to do better in the future.

And there it is. I will pay the termination fee and jump ship from AT&T in a New York Minute when iPhone goes Verizon.

I am willing to bet serious coin that AT&T will lose 50% of their iPhone customers when this happens.

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solipsism 18 Years · 25701 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by echosonic

And there it is. I will pay the termination fee and jump ship from AT&T in a New York Minute when iPhone goes Verizon.

That doesn?t seem likely. There is no evidence to support that Apple and Verizon are working together and evidence to support that they aren?t. T-Mo is the most logical choice. How is T-Mo in your area?

Quote:
I am willing to bet serious coin that AT&T will lose 50% of their iPhone customers when this happens.

I hope they do so I can more bandwidth but I?d take your bet. The number of people overwhelmingly unhappy with AT&T?s service are few and even fewer were foolish enough to not use the 30 day period to test AT&T?s coverage in their area. Some would jump, but the same goes if it was reversed.

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souliisoul 15 Years · 827 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by echosonic

And there it is. I will pay the termination fee and jump ship from AT&T in a New York Minute when iPhone goes Verizon.

I am willing to bet serious coin that AT&T will lose 50% of their iPhone customers when this happens.

Do not agree, I think all the carriers have learned from AT&T's situation with iPhone, that people are looking for smart devices that will allow them to undertaken a number of tasks on one simple electronic device.

If Verizon had been the 1st carrier for iPhone, I but the same would happen and all my US colleagues would be moaning about Verizon.

Unfortunately AT&T was not ready, but neither was other carriers and their have learned from AT&Ts mistakes.

ezduzit 16 Years · 158 comments

at&t should have put up another cell phone tower instead of wasting the money on legal fees. especially in nyc.

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michaelt 16 Years · 15 comments

They didn't like the opposition pointing out their 3G weaknesses, so they sued. Yeah, I guess they discovered that wasn't going to work so they pulled the suit. Maybe they'll focus on suing Consumer Reports now, since CR is pointing out their low users' satisfaction level.