Citigroup Sues AT&T Over Right to Say ‘Thanks’ to Customers
Thanking loyal customers for their business may seem uncontroversial, but Citigroup Inc. has something to say about how exactly you do it.
The bank sued AT&T Inc. on Friday over the telecom company’s use of the trademarks “thanks” and “AT&T thanks” in a new customer-loyalty program. The use infringes several of Citigroup’s trademarks, including “ThankYou” and “Citi ThankYou,” according to a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.
Citigroup, the world’s biggest credit-card lender, has been using the “ThankYou” trademark in a customer-loyalty program since 2004, and more than 7 million of its customers have a ThankYou-branded credit card, the bank said. Citigroup wants a court order barring AT&T from using the terms.
AT&T’s use of the phrases “is likely to cause customer confusion,” the bank said. The trademark designs also have similar fonts and word placements, according to the suit.
Rest from Bloomberg here…
Copy of the lawsuit below…
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4closureFraud.org
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Citigroup v. AT&T
Just who has confused the issue here?
Well, Citigroup will lose. “Thanks” is a common English word and cannot be copyrighted any more than the ‘you” that often follows it. Could someone copyright hello??? HELLO!!!