Times' suit says Tribune abandoned paper name
In a countersuit over the use of Tampa Bay Times, the Times accuses the Tampa paper of deceptive practices.
By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published March 15, 2006
The Tampa Tribune's trademark for the name "Tampa Times" should be canceled, the St. Petersburg Times said Tuesday in a countersuit filed in the ongoing legal dispute between the parent companies of the Tampa Bay area's two largest newspapers.
"The Tampa Tribune is afraid of competition and is trying to hide behind the tombstone of a newspaper that has been dead for almost a quarter-century," said Paul Tash, Times editor and chief executive.
The Tribune's lawyer, Gregg Thomas, declined to comment.
Tribune Company Holdings and Media General Operations are suing Times Publishing Co., over use of the name "Tampa Bay Times," claiming it is too similar to "Tampa Times."
Tribune Company once published a newspaper named Tampa Times, which ceased publication in 1982. Since then it periodically has used "Tampa Times" in small letters beneath Tampa Tribune on the newspaper's nameplate.
Times Publishing has been publishing a free weekly newspaper known as tbt* Tampa Bay Times for a year and a half. It switched to five-day-a-week publication last week.
Pending a full trial in the matter, U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. restricted Times' use of "Tampa Bay Times" to type one-seventh the size of the letters "tbt*".
The Times' countersuit says the Tribune abandoned the "Tampa Times" trademark by not using it and committed fraud by lying about its use in a trademark application.
The Times' suit also accuses the Tribune of trying to confuse the public with unfair and deceptive trade practices, including an advertising campaign that uses the name "Tampa Times" with a ribbon design element that mimics the logo of tbt* Tampa Bay Times.
The Times says the Tribune also is trying to confuse the public by registration and use of Internet domain names www.tampabaytimes.net www.tampabaytimes.info and www.tampabaytimes.biz
The Times, tbt*, Florida Trend and other publications of Times Publishing appear online on one Web site: www.tampabay.com
The Times asks the court to order those domain names transferred to the Times and to prohibit the Tribune from using any advertising or directory listings that would be confusingly similar to the tbt* Tampa Bay Times name.
Helen Huntley can be reached at hhuntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.