Wireless carrier AT&T has sued Verizon Wireless over the “There's a Map for That” commercials Big Red has been airing for quite some time now, and which are aimed at the “There's an App for That” ads Apple delivers for its iPhone. According to AT&T, that filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, the ads are misleading. AT&T, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, states that the ads have caused and continue to cause irreparable harm to the company.

The ads, as many of you might already be aware of, show maps of the United States that highlight areas where 3G connectivity is available, marking with red the areas for Verizon's coverage and with blue the areas for AT&T's one, leaving blank regions for the parts of the country where 3G is unavailable. According to AT&T, the maps are misleading due to the fact that they offer regular coverage even in areas where the 3G coverage is not available.

All major cities in the US enjoy AT&T 3G coverage, and AT&T is said to actually plan on asking Verizon to show its EDGE network, which, states AT&T, covers around 1.75 million square miles and offers connectivity to approximately 256 million people. AT&T previously complained about the ads as it stated that its users were “out of reach” in areas where 3G connectivity was unavailable, and Verizon had to change them. AT&T has invested a lot in its network lately, mainly for the enhancement of its capacity, so as to be able to meet high demand for data traffic generated by iPhone users.

According to Nancy Stark, Verizon spokeswoman, the ads are part of the company's “Can you hear me now?” campaign, and they have been already changed to reflect reality. “As to the merits of the suit, there aren't any,” Nancy Stark explained. “The ads are clearly labeled 3G coverage and they also clearly state that voice and data service is available outside the 3G coverage area.”