Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

T-Mobile’s war against AT&T just got even more ridiculous

Published Aug 28th, 2013 4:05PM EDT
T-Mobile AT&T Subsidiary Lawsuit

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

T-Mobile has made a habit of needling AT&T ever since John Legere took over as CEO but the company may have pushed things to a whole new level this week. AllThingsD reports that T-Mobile is suing prepaid AT&T subsidiary Aio Wireless because it’s allegedly using T-Mobile’s “trademark” magenta color in its logo. In its complaint, T-Mobile accuses AT&T of setting up Aio earlier this year as a way to counter its “UNCarrier” initiative and of trying to confuse consumers by giving Aio a magenta logo that it says is strikingly similar to the hue of T-Mobile’s logo.

“In early 2013, T-Mobile publicly disclosed plans to compete against the incumbent telecommunications providers in a new way: by offering telecommunications services without the need for consumers to enter into a two-year or annual service contract,” T-Mobile said in its complaint. “The dominant telecommunications provider, AT&T, responded by setting up a wholly owned subsidiary, Aio, which — out of all of the colors in the universe — chose magenta to begin promoting no-contract wireless communications services in direct competition with T-Mobile.”

If all this seems laughable to you, recall that Legere has in the past talked to a bunch of dolls during one of his press events to ridicule AT&T. Or put another way, nothing is too ridiculous for T-Mobile if the result annoys AT&T.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.