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.