Awhile back AT&T sued Verizon over their “There’s a Map For That” advertisements, claiming that the maps were misleading because the empty areas on the maps represented different things. Now Verizon has responded to the lawsuit with some fightin’ words.

From the lawsuit:

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.

For well over a year, the battle lines in wireless communications have been drawn around the “3G” (third generation) wireless data capabilities of each carrier, as measured by coverage, speed, and reliability. In recent years wireless carriers have upgraded their first and second-generation networks (capable of transmitting voice calls and limited data services) to 3G, enabling far higher transmission speed and therefore a far broader range of data products and services, such as faster music and video downloads, high-resolution games, and other software applications. Verizon Wireless has invested billions of dollars since 2004 upgrading nearly its entire network across the continental United States and Hawaii to 3G, and today covers five times more of the United States than AT&T’s 3G network.

Despite the far smaller size of its 3G network, AT&T has spent tens of millions of dollars making its 3G network, which it dubs the “Nation’s Fastest 3G Network,” the centerpiece of its national advertising since at least the summer of 2008. AT&T now is attempting to silence Verizon’s ads that include maps graphically depicting the geographic reach of AT&T’s 3G network as compared to Verizon’s own 3G network because AT&T does not like the truthful picture painted by that comparison.

Damn. What now AT&T?

Read the full response here. (PDF)

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