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Times, Tribune settle lawsuit

The papers agree on use of the name 'Tampa Bay Times.'

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published November 1, 2006

The Tampa Bay area's two largest newspapers said Tuesday they have settled their often acrimonious dispute over the right to use the name "Tampa Bay Times."

The St. Petersburg Times and its corporate parent, Times Publishing Co., will get restricted use of the name for the next five years and unlimited use thereafter.

The Tampa Tribune, its parent, Media General Operations Inc., and an affiliated company, Tribune Co. Holdings Inc., will retain rights to the name "Tampa Times."

The Tribune sued the Times for trademark infringement in federal court last February, claiming the Times' use of "Tampa Bay Times" on a free tabloid publication was too similar to "Tampa Times," a mark owned by the Tribune.

The Times countersued, claiming that the Tribune had abandoned the mark "Tampa Times" for use on a daily newspaper when it stopped publishing an afternoon newspaper by that name in 1982.

U.S. Judge James Moody Jr. ordered the companies to mediation to try to resolve their differences without a trial.

"After eight months of litigation, I am very pleased to reach this result," said Paul Tash, CEO and chairman of Times Publishing Co. "In any settlement, neither side gets everything it wants. Still, this resolution lets us focus our full attention on what is most important: building on the great start we've made with tbt*/Tampa Bay Times."

Launched as a free weekly in 2004, tbt*/Tampa Bay Times moved to five-days-a-week publication in March. The tabloid, which is designed to appeal to young adult readers, currently has a distribution of about 224,000 copies a week.

John Schueler, president of Media General's Florida Communications Group, which includes the Tampa Tribune, said he was pleased with the restrictions the settlement places on the Times' use of "Tampa Bay Times."

"I'm pleased that we settled it," he said. "I'm also pleased that we were able to maintain the limitations of the injunction for the next five years. As in all mediation, there was a good result."

For the next five years, Times Publishing can continue to call its free tabloid tbt*/Tampa Bay Times, as long as it continues to publish "tbt" in type seven times larger than "Tampa Bay Times." In addition, it must increase the size of the words "published by the St. Petersburg Times" or "published by the St. Pete Times" as part of the nameplate. The name "Tampa Bay Times" must be used with the name "tbt" in all advertising.

After five years, those restrictions will be removed.

The Tribune also agreed to transfer to the Times three Internet domain names containing "tampabaytimes" and the Times agreed not to link them to any Times Publishing site for five years.

The Tribune now uses the name "The Tampa Times" in small type under the "The Tampa Tribune" on its nameplate. Tribune officials said they do not intend to change the prominence or use of the "Tampa Times" name or to launch any new publication under that name.

Both parties agreed to pay their own lawyers' fees and to split the costs of mediation.

Helen Huntley can be reached at hhuntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.

[Last modified November 1, 2006, 00:10:01]