Court Tells Cablevision to Pull Ads Calling Verizon a Liar

Verizon Communications said the US District Court in Islip (NY) issued a temporary restraining order that orders Cablevision Systems to temporarily pull certain “anti-FiOS advertising” while also affirming Verizon’s WiFi-related speed claims. Cablevision followed with a statement noting that the judge did not rule that the company must pull all anti-FiOS ads, but that the temporary injunction is limited to ads asserting that Verizon is a “liar,” or tells “lies.” "The law, like our economic system, encourages spirited competition," the judge said, according to a transcript. "But when a competitor exceeds the bounds of decency by falsely impugning the integrity of a competitor, it runs afoul of the law. Such extraordinary conduct warrants the extraordinary relief of a temporary restraining order.”

Verizon said the temporary restraining order, issued August 10, ties into Cablevision ads that have targeted elements related to telecommunication company’s fiber-optic network, FiOS speeds, and the capabilities of its DVR products. Verizon said the same court on August 7 also sustained the company’s “Fastest Available Wi-Fi claim,” which was at the center of a lawsuit that Cablevision filed against Verizon in January in the federal court for the Eastern district of New York. Cablevision, which recently launched a WiFi-only phone service called Freewheel, argued that Verizon’s claims were false, deceptive and designed to mislead consumers, and that Verizon’s in-home routers were not faster than Cablevision’s Optimum Smart Routers.