AT&T Sues Verizon In Ga. Over 'map For That' Ads

ATLANTA (AP) — 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.