This is the type of thing companies with single-letter stock tickers sue each other over. I’m gonna copyright “f***you” and license it to the mafia. You can’t copyright a common phrase. And you certainly cannot copyright a universal greeting. This won’t stand up to a Supreme Court challenge.
The lawsuit seeks to stop AT&T from using the phrases “thanks” and “AT&T thanks” in its programs and marketing.
It also seeks unspecified triple and punitive damages.AT&T plans to defend against the lawsuit, spokesman Fletcher Cook said.
“This may come as a surprise to Citigroup, but the law does not allow one company to own the word ‘thanks,'” Cook said. “We’re going to continue to say thanks to our customers.”
Citigroup said its “thankyou” programs have about 15 million members in the United States, and that 1.7 million customers there have credit cards co-branded by Citigroup and AT&T.
The case is Citigroup Inc v. AT&T Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-04333.
