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Vonage Sues AT&T Over CallVantage Name
from the might-have-a-case... dept
I'm actually a bit surprised it took this long. When AT&T announced their plans to offer their own Vonage-wannabe VoIP service, they named it CallVantage, which could certainly be seen as being "similarly confusing" to Vonage. So, now that AT&T has officially launched the offering, Vonage is suing them over the name. This is one time when I actually think the trademark issue is being used correctly. It's not (as many people seem to think) about banning all uses of the name (such as for Google advertising keywords), but to avoid consumer confusion into thinking that a product provided by one company is actually provided by another. Of course, with AT&T, you could make the argument that the benefit might go the other way. They're going to put a lot of marketing dollars behind their VoIP play, and if the name is similar to Vonage's, it could lead to increased sales for Vonage as well.
Reader Comments
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So confused
How is CallVantage confused with Vonage?
Burger Crown, or Kennedy Fried Chicken seems a lot closer to infringement.
I'm just surprised to hear you take this position, Mike. Do you really think that people will sign up for AT&T's CallVantage VoIP because they think they are signing up for Vonage VoIP?
Clarification, perhaps?
Derek
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Re: So confused
Vonage has made a pretty major branding effort concerning their name and VoIP.
The Vantage part of the CallVantage name, seems QUITE similar to Vonage. In fact, that was my first thought when I saw them come up with the name CallVantage.
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