AT&T dragged to court by CitiGroup for saying 'thank you': Report

In the US, saying thank you may cost one company dearly. 

According to a report in The Financial Times, AT&T has been dragged to the Manhattan Federal Court by CitiGroup for violating its intellectual property rights. 

CitiGroup said that AT&T had violated its "thank you" trademarks atleast on eight counts. 

How did AT&T do that?

CitiGroup told the court that it has a credit card loyalty scheme called "thank you", under which, its card holders are rewarded with points on the basis of how much they spend. These points can be used to cover their future purchases and users can also give gift cards to others. 

In April 2015, according to the FT report, AT&T became a part of this programme with the CitiGroup. 

This month, however, AT&T decided to start its own reward programme called "thanks" and "AT&T thanks", which CitiGroup says is in clear violation of its trademarks atleast on eight counts and has sought "injunctive relief and unspecified damages," in the Manhattan Federal court, the report says. 

In response to the case, AT&T said, according to the report, that nobody has trademark on the words "thanks" or "thank you". 

It will be interesting to see how this battle over gratitude pans out.