Cablevision Sues Verizon, Seeking To Run Ads 'Exposing' FiOS as Not All Fiber
Cablevision filed suit in federal court against Verizon Tuesday, seeking a declaratory judgment to allow it to continue running an ad that "exposes Verizon's false and misleading marketing claims" about its FiOS service. "Verizon has not been truthful to the…
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public for nearly 10 years about FiOS," said a Cablevision news release. "Verizon FiOS is not all fiber and, in fact, uses regular coaxial cable inside the home. Cablevision ran an advertisement revealing that FiOS is not all fiber, and now Verizon is demanding that Cablevision stop running its ad. Consumers deserve to make informed decisions based on facts, and Cablevision is asking the court to intervene to stop Verizon from attempting to continue to mislead the public.” Cablevision said that in some cases, Verizon had used coaxial cable outside the home as well. Cablevision's complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said that Verizon had "sent a cease and desist letter to Cablevision asserting that Cablevision’s television commercial 'must be immediately stopped' and asserted that commercial was false advertising "under Section 1125(a) of the Lanham Act and other federal and state laws." Verizon then filed a challenge to Cablevision’s advertisement with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, but Cablevision had decided voluntarily not to submit to the NAD review, the complaint said. Verizon responded that "once again Cablevision demonstrates an unhealthy appetite for confusing consumers. Cablevision cannot compete with Verizon FiOS, or even come close to providing the Internet speeds and performance available from Verizon’s 100 percent fiber-optic network. Since their network can’t compete against FiOS, they resort to legal stunts, which we will challenge vigorously."