Verizon Wireless seeks U.S. court judgment on ads

A Verizon Wireless store is seen in Westminster, Colorado April 26, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon and Vodafone Group PLC, asked a U.S. court for a judgment that its advertising claims as "America's Most Reliable 3G Network" are truthful.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Verizon said that a July 1 challenge by competitor AT&T Mobility LLC, part of AT&T, asserting its advertising was false could not be supported.

AT&T, which has its principal business in Atlanta, Georgia, had filed the challenge with the National Advertising Division of the Council for Better Business Bureaus.

Verizon Wireless of Basking Ridge, New Jersey said its claims of having "America's Most Reliable 3G Network" and "America's Best 3G Network" and "America's Most Reliable Wireless Network" are "truthful, accurate and substantiated" and do not violate the trademark law known as the Lanham Act.

It said that AT&T's challenge "relies on the incorrect premise that speed is an essential element of the standard for measuring network reliability."

A spokesman for AT&T could not immediately comment.

Verizon has long advertised the quality of its network's performance through its "Can you hear me now" ad campaign, which depicted network testers going from place to place to test call reception.

The case is Verizon Wireless v AT&T Mobility LLC 09-6656 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan)

(Reporting by Grant McCool)