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AT&?s lawsuit to silence ?misleading? Verizon ads dismissed

AT&T Mobility?s lawsuit against Verizon?s ?There?s A Map For That? ads has been dismissed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division.

The initial complaint was filed by AT&T and claimed that Verizon ads mislead consumers into believing that AT&T doesn?t offer wireless service to large parts of the U.S. AT&T claimed that the ads attacked its level of 3G coverage.

?Verizon and AT&T have dismissed the litigation between them in Georgia and New York,? said Jenny Bridges, spokeswoman for AT&T, Dallas.

AT&T?s initial filing requested a temporary restraining order to stop Verizon from using misleading AT&T coverage maps in their advertisements.

?AT&T seeks narrow, tailored relief,? the initial AT&T filing says. ?AT&T does not seek to stop Verizon from running its advertisements, nor does it seek to change the words Verizon uses in the advertisements.

?AT&T 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,? it says.

After AT&T filed the initial filing, Verizon responded with its own filing that said that AT&T?s complaint had no merit.

Verizon?s filing was a memorandum of law in opposition to the motion by AT&T. Verizon claimed in its filing that the company should get 90 days to conduct discovery on the factual issues underlying AT&T?s motion.

?AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon?s ?There?s A Map For That? advertisements are untrue,? the Verizon memorandum says. ?AT&T sued because Verizon?s ads are true and the truth hurts.?

Verizon claims that for more than a year now, the battle lines in wireless communications have been drawn around the 3G wireless capabilities of each carrier.

This is measured by coverage, speed and reliability.

Carriers have been upgrading their first and second generation networks to 3G, to be able to offer consumers a broader range of data services.

Verizon Wireless, like other carriers, has invested billions of dollars in this upgrade.

AT&T has also spent millions on this upgrade and now calls itself the ?Nation?s Fastest 3G Network,? and uses this phrase as the centerpiece to its campaigns.

?AT&T is now trying to silence Verizon?s ads that include maps graphically depicting the geographic reach of AT&T?s 3G network as compared to Verizon?s 3G network because AT&T does not like the truthful picture painted by that comparison,? Verizon?s filing says.

Verizon also said in its memorandum that AT&T admitted to the accuracy of the Verizon ad and the fact that Verizon has five times more 3G coverage.

In the latest court document from yesterday, the AT&T complaint was dropped.

?The parties stipulate and agree that, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41 (a), the complaint in this matter is hereby dismissed without prejudice,? the document says.

Neither Verizon nor AT&T or their respected law firms were willing to comment on the dismissal or the reason for it.