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UPS officials said they were pulling the offending ad, which touted UPS as most reliable, after learning the claim was based on an out-of-date customer satisfaction survey.
The lawsuit asked UPS to kill the ad and pay FedEx for lost business and other impacts, including "corrective advertising costs" of at least $20 million.
"As the company that coined the term 'absolutely, positively,' we obviously take any competitor claims of superior reliability very seriously," FedEx spokesman Maury Lane said.
"UPS has been widely broadcasting an ad asserting that their service is the most reliable. We have notified UPS that their ad does not comply with the law, but they have refused to withdraw the ad. We are now asking for the court's assistance in protecting consumers and FedEx from false and misleading statements," Lane added.
FedEx reported receiving a letter by e-mail from UPS about two hours after the lawsuit was filed in federal court in Memphis.
UPS spokesman Norman Black described the letter's timing as coincidental, and said it was in response to an earlier letter from FedEx.
"The ad was clearly based on a 2008 survey by an independent party, and just last week there was a new survey that came out that changed the rankings," Black said. "With that new survey, we have advised them we're not going to use it any more."
The lawsuit revolves around a television ad that has been running since at least mid-March. It says UPS "was just ranked most reliable," a reference to a November survey of 200 shippers by investment firm Morgan Stanley.
FedEx lawyers challenged the ad's compliance with truth-in-advertising law, saying survey findings were outdated and lacking substantiation.
In Morgan Stanley's survey dated Sunday, shippers ranked FedEx most reliable.
-- Wayne Risher: 529-2874
FedEx vs. UPS
FedEx claims in U.S. District Court that UPS has run a misleading TV ad more than 500 times since March 15.
FedEx says the offending ad gave a flawed assessment of the company's reliability, violating the Lanham Act.
The lawsuit seeks removal of the ad and payment of damages that include lost profits and revenues and at least $20 million in corrective advertising costs.
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