T-Mobile sues AT&T over magenta colored logo of Aio pre-paid service
While it’s not quite Uncarrier 3.0, T-Mobile is once again throwing off the gloves in their bitter rivalry against AT&T. This time around, T-Mobile is taking issue with the colors AT&T chose for its pre-paid outfit, Aio Wireless (currently only available in Texas, Florida, and Georgia).
In a U.S. District Court in Texas, T-mobile alleges that AT&T purposely chose magenta for the Aio logo so that potential customers would unknowingly associate the pre-paid service with T-Mobile and their shade of magenta of which the company actually has trademarked. Apparently, when shoppers see wireless plans, an off shade of purple, and incredible value, T-Mobile believes they’re the first thing that comes to mind.
We’re kind of on the fence with this one. While T-Mobile has become renown for their gratuitous use of magenta (almost more of a hot pink), we also acknowledge that Aio is using more or less a dark purple in their logo. Of course, when using lighter shades of the purple on Aio’s coverage map or in promo materials, ads, etc. — things start to look a little too similar. Even if unintentional, there’s still a wide gamut of colors AT&T could have gone with for Aio — as pointed out by T-Mobile CEO John Legere on Twitter.
Here is the Crayon box that @ATT must have been using :) pic.twitter.com/9SG5b3Ztse
— John Legere (@john_legere) August 28, 2013
We’ll let you make the final call — is T-Mobile being a bit ridiculous in their claims? Or should AT&T be forced to choose a whole new color for Aio?