Telecom seeks court ad ban against Vodafone

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom seeks court ad ban against Vodafone

Skillie

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#127209 2-Aug-2013 13:30

Get out the popcorn:-

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10907233

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#870696 2-Aug-2013 13:36

I do agree it's confusing to consumers for VF to refer to their region-limited cable service as ultra fast broadband, as differing from the government-backed ultra-fast broadband initiative. I'm still not so sure what's so super about their network, either. They keep claiming it's "the best", and I'd like to see some data and statistics to support that. I'm not saying it isn't, necessarily, the best, but in my personal experience it is far from it, thus my interest.

Jaxar

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#870737 2-Aug-2013 14:09

Inphinity: I do agree it's confusing to consumers for VF to refer to their region-limited cable service as ultra fast broadband, as differing from the government-backed ultra-fast broadband initiative. I'm still not so sure what's so super about their network, either. They keep claiming it's "the best", and I'd like to see some data and statistics to support that. I'm not saying it isn't, necessarily, the best, but in my personal experience it is far from it, thus my interest.

Is ultra fast broadband a brand name related to the fibre roll out as a particular product or is it a description of broadband which is faster than xDSL?

trig42

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#870768 2-Aug-2013 14:32

I find it misleading.

They are calling it Ultra Fast broadband, which leads me to think they are rolling out Fibre Plans in the UFB rollout, which they are not (are they?). They aren't even doing VDSL are they?

NonprayingMantis

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#870774 2-Aug-2013 14:40

"The advertising describes Vodafone's infrastructure "as the best fixed-line network"."

being "the best" is entirely subjective but it does strike me as pretty amusing to claim that you have the best fixed network when:

they don't have VDSL yet
they don't have fibre yet

your cable network, whilst fast, is limited to a footprint that is much smaller than UFB is, and very much smaller than VDSL.

There was a similar complaint with roles reversed a while back when Tcom claimed XT was faster than Vf network and vodafone said nobody could claim the 'best' network because it relied on so many variables like location and time of day.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/vodafone-disputes-xt-ad-truenet-asserts-independence

Inphinity

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#870779 2-Aug-2013 14:49

Jaxar:
Is ultra fast broadband a brand name related to the fibre roll out as a particular product or is it a description of broadband which is faster than xDSL?

It's not necessarily whether there is or is not any sort of infringement on name usage, it's about misleading the consumer. There has been a lot of coverage and information around the government-backed ultra-fast broadband initiative, to then go and promote a different product under that banner will lead consumers to believe it is part of said government-backed initiative when it may not be.

wellygary

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#870794 2-Aug-2013 15:17

Vodafone Ultra Fast Broadband will be rolled out to more and more Kiwi homes and businesses every month, and it's already available in parts of in Christchurch, Wellington and Kapiti. We can’t tell you exactly when it will arrive in your street, but if you let us know your details, we’ll let you know when Vodafone Ultra Fast Broadband is available in your area and tell you about our plans and offers.

Vodafone will argue that they are describing the service, and that their HFC product offers a similar experience to GPON UFB,

But IMHO (and IANAL) they are sailing close to the wind with this, "Ultra fast Broadband" is a term that has a reasonable public understanding as a fibre (GPON) service.

Although Vodafone will not be overly unhappy as it will give them free press, and if they do lose it is unlikely that they would be hit with any major fine or punishment , heck under the Fair trading act the fine for a corporate is only 200K and VF will spend more that that on lawyers.

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Boeingflyer

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#870800 2-Aug-2013 15:32

I was mislead, i had just signed up to Telecom vdsl and then saw the ad and went 'b*gger' until i went to their website and saw nothing new.

RedJungle

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#870821 2-Aug-2013 15:51

I've seen the ads many times - still have no idea what Supernet specifically is. Terrible marketing IMO.

jnimmo

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#870822 2-Aug-2013 15:53

Fantastic, I was about to file a complaint myself.
I'm also investigating their SuperNet™; supernet is a descriptive networking term and definitely shouldn't be trademarkable when referring to a telecommunications network.

Lias

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#870826 2-Aug-2013 15:58

I kind of think its sour grapes from Telecom to be honest.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Inphinity

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#870828 2-Aug-2013 16:08

Lias: I kind of think its sour grapes from Telecom to be honest.

Part of it possibly is, but imo it's still a poor marketing attempt from Vodafone, to cash in on public awareness of an alternate initiative of the same name. Vodafone would (and have) thrown the law book at Telecom and others for similar things in the past, so :P

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NonprayingMantis

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#870830 2-Aug-2013 16:22

Lias: I kind of think its sour grapes from Telecom to be honest.

sour grapes because Telecom have actually launched VDSL and UFB and Vodafone haven't?

Jaxar

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#870837 2-Aug-2013 16:33

Inphinity:
Jaxar:
Is ultra fast broadband a brand name related to the fibre roll out as a particular product or is it a description of broadband which is faster than xDSL?

It's not necessarily whether there is or is not any sort of infringement on name usage, it's about misleading the consumer. There has been a lot of coverage and information around the government-backed ultra-fast broadband initiative, to then go and promote a different product under that banner will lead consumers to believe it is part of said government-backed initiative when it may not be.

Great answer btw. Will be really interesting to see how this plays out.

Also Herald article has been updated with VF's response and dragged a few past VF and TCNZ mistakes.