Telecoms giant AT&T was hit with a trade mark infringement suit
last week over the name of its new internet phone service,
'CallVantage'. Existing internet phone service provider Vonage
claims that this brand name is too similar to its own.
AT&T launched the service in the New Jersey area on Monday,
but even as the announcements were being made, the telco knew that
it had a branding battle to fight.
According to Reuters, Vonage filed suit in New Jersey last week,
alleging that CallVantage would confuse possible Vonage customers.
According to the suit, AT&T has purchased web addresses that
contain the word "vontage".
"Instead of developing its own fanciful mark, AT&T embarked
on what appears, unfortunately, to be a calculated scheme to trade
on the goodwill of Vonage's fanciful and distinctive VONAGE mark,"
says the suit. It then asks the court to force AT&T to change
the brand name.
About internet
telephony
Internet telephony is the ability to make voice calls over any
internet connection, particularly broadband, using Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP). While handsets are still expensive
compared to landline handsets, VoIP call costs are reduced and
calls to other internet phones are often free of charge.
Although VoIP has existed as a technology for much of the last
10 years, the mass market for broadband connections and the recent
emergence of IP telephony-enabling protocols have revolutionised
the sector.
There are already more than six million people worldwide
benefiting from making voice calls over their internet connection,
primarily in Japan and the US, but to date the service has been
provided mainly by small start-ups.
