Saying “thank you” is just a good habit to get into. There is so much to be thankful for. But, it seems that no good deed goes unpunished.
Let us begin with the defendant: AT&T. They want to say “Thanks” to all their customers who have stood by them while they found ways to take more money from them. This should be simple, but in business, saying thanks is just too hard.
CitiGroup, who trademarked “THANKYOU”, doesn’t want its hard work to go to waste. See, they claim in a federal suit (and a straight face) that AT&T is infringing on their trademark, and believes that the (stupid) consumer will get confused between these similar trademarks, and creates unfair competition.
I didn’t know CitiGroup had so much in common with AT&T, apart from their customer service records. And I guess both logos have blue (how many shades are there, again?) in them. So maybe they do have a case. But this might be a case for a psychiatrist over a courtroom.
I guess it is that hard to just say “Thanks™”.