Irish Times to judge: stop Rupert Murdoch from using Ireland title
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Version 0 of 1. The legal case taken by the Irish Times against Rupert Murdoch’s UK company over its intention to publish an online newspaper called The Times Ireland is under way. The Irish Times’s counsel told the commercial court in Dublin on Tuesday that the trademark and values of the Irish Times will be “blurred and diluted” by such a publication. Jonathan Newman SC said the Irish Times has substantial numbers in support of its reputation and business in the Republic, with some 6.5m users of its website per month plus 120,000 monthly users of its news app. He said the Irish Times has an “enormous presence” in the state, both in terms of hard copy and its digital edition, while the London Times has a “miniscule” 0.5% of newspaper sales in Ireland. The concern was that if Times Newspapers, publishers of the Times of London and the Sunday Times, were allowed to use the words “The Times Irish edition” in promoting the planned new digital edition of the London Times, it would create confusion in the market place. The Murdoch digital title, which is to be sold as part of a seven-day subscription package with the Sunday Times, would be “dangerously close” to that of the Irish Times. Newman told Mr Justice John Hedigan that the UK publisher was obliged to put “clear water” between it and the Irish Times and that the court should grant orders to that effect. The Irish Times is seeking to prevent the use of “The Times Ireland” as a domain name, in a Twitter account or as an email address. It also wants to restrain Times Newspapers from promoting or launching a new digital publication with a digital masthead as set out in mock-up seen by the Irish Times. It wants further orders to stop the UK newspaper group from using the “T” logo at its Twitter account or any logo confusingly similar to the IT logo. The case continues. Sources: Irish Times/Irish Independent |