Verizon to AT&T: The truth hurts
Legal documents are traditionally filled with jargon, gobbledygook, legalese and wishy-washy language full of ifs and maybes. But not the latest filing by Verizon.
A couple of weeks ago, AT&T filed a lawsuit complaining about Verizon’s adverts which showed AT&T’s national 3G coverage. It wasn’t quite Walter Mondale’s 1984 performance, but certainly looked more like a bad case of measles than a robust, widespread service.
According to AT&T’s argument, the map was misleading as it didn’t show 2G coverage and gave the wrongful impression that large parts of the country are without any AT&T service whatsoever.
At the time, BLORGE’s Dave Jeyes suggested the true cause of the lawsuit was that “AT&T is pissed that the Verizon commercial is tempting customers to jump ship to Verizon’s more reliable all-3G network.”
Verizon isn’t quite so colorful and direct, but it gets about as close as you’ll ever see in a court document. The very first paragraph of the introduction to its legal response reads:
AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.
(While on the subject of language, I have to congratulate Verizon’s lawyers on the sneaky pun in the phrase, “Verizon’s side-by-side, apples-to-apples comparison of its own 3G coverage with AT&T’s”.)
The response goes on to note that for four of the five adverts concerned, AT&T failed to provide any evidence of consumers being misled, and that its evidence for the other case was based on a flawed survey.
It remains to be seen if the court will agree with Verizon’s assertion that the case should be dismissed out of hand. But if AT&T thought legal action would put an end to network coverage comparisons, it may be disappointed. The filing notes: “Verizon does intend to continue this ad campaign, including the use of the comparative 3G coverage maps that are the centerpiece of both the campaign and AT&T’s complaint.”
Related Posts:
November 20th, 2009
[...] AT&T 3G coverage nationwide, AT&T took the matter to court. Verizon then responded with a stinging filing that opened “AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth [...]
December 2nd, 2009
[...] coverage actually represented its entire cellphone service coverage. Verizon denied that claim in a harshly worded filing which argued “AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth [...]