BREAKING: Boost Mobile threatens Optus with legal action over “Mobile boost” service offering

It’s as if I have a crystal ball. Blind Freddy could see this coming, and as I foreshadowed in yesterday’s article about Optus’ new short term service improvement plans – Boost Mobile is not happy.

Optus called their new short term offerings “Internet Boost” and “Mobile Boost” allowing customers to pay $5 for a days worth of better NBN, and $2 an hour for priority service on the mobile network. Setting aside the net neutrality concerns of the priority network access, the simple fact is, the word Boost in the mobile space is intrinsically linked to one telco – Boost Mobile.

And that didn’t pass by Boost Mobile’s Jason Haynes and Peter Adderton easily – they’re not happy.

Founder Peter Adderton telling EFTM “Just when I didn’t think Optus could embarrass themselves any further, they once again surprise us all. Earlier this week, Optus launched products under the BOOST brand which Boost Mobile considers must be a deliberate attempt to trade off our valuable BOOST brand and success.

Adderton doesn’t mince his words, ever, and his fun stoush with Optus branded opposition Supercar teams in recent years is nothing compared to what he’s unleashed here today, less than 24 hours after Optus released these new plans.

Peter went on to make it clear “Boost Mobile has not authorised Optus to use our BOOST brand, and we are definitely not collaborating with Optus. Boost Mobile is focused on customer experience through great everyday value and access to the full Telstra network.

How serious? Boost lawyers have given Optus until 5pm today to stop using the word Boost in their marketing “Boost Mobile will not tolerate Optus’ behaviour and we have demanded that Optus stop using our BOOST brand immediately. Optus has this morning received legal correspondence giving them until 5pm today to respond and stop using BOOST in its marketing, or otherwise legal proceedings will commence for trademark infringement. Boost Mobile is a local, Australian-born success story which, over the last 22 years, has built a telco brand that is now globally recognised and respected. Our six different Australian trademarks, including the word BOOST, cannot be so easily traded off by an organisation scrambling to create relevancy with consumers.”

Normally not one to shy away from a chat, Adderton has left it at that – for now, saying “While no further comment will be made for now, what I can say is – watch this space.” 

From an Optus perspective, EFTM reached out to the company for comment, an Optus spokesperson said:

• We have received a letter raising concerns on behalf of Boost Telecom
• Optus is considering this, but does not consider that any customer could confuse Boost Telecom with Optus

Let’s see how this plays out.