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Village Voice Sues Time Out For Using "Best Of NYC"
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 16, 2011
Modified Nov 16, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 16, 2011
Modified Nov 16, 2011
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Stupid "best of" listicles: they're the bread and butter of the blog world, especially in NYC, where we have so much best of everything. And every blogger knows that just tossing the word "Best" into a headline is guaranteed to make it rain page views. (cf. 10 Best "Sasha Grey Reads To Kids" Twitter Jokes.) But the SEO gravy train could be grinding to a halt if the Village Voice prevails in a lawsuit against Time Out, over the magazine's "Best of NYC" issue.
In 2008, you see, Village Voice Media (the alt-weekly's Arizona-based corporate overlord) registered the trademark for Best of NYC. They also own the trademarks for the "Best of" a number of other cities, and the company is also trying to trademark the pair of words "Best of," such as the "Best of Backpage.com's child prostitution ads."
But earlier this month, Time Out dared publish their Best of NYC issue, and the Village Voice says they're the only ones whose ad team gets to pitch special "best of" ad buys to run alongside lists of the best sex shops on Staten Island. And so this week Village Voice Media filed a lawsuit against Time Out over the alleged theft of such precious intellectual property. (Check back later today for our roundup of the 5 Best Desperate Media Lawsuits!)
Paid Content reports that the Village Voice publisher "wants the magazine to hand over its profits and for the court to grant an order directing Time Out New York to 'recall and destroy or surrender' the offending magazines." Because with all the profits from Time Out's slammin' "Best of" issue, the Voice finally will be able hit up all the restaurants in Time Out's "Cheap Eats" roundup.
We called Time Out at 9:10 a.m. to see what they're reaction was, and the receptionist told us, "Nobody's really here yet." Voice publisher Tony Ortega tells us in an email:
"This might come as a shock to some people, but since October 26, 1955, the Village Voice has been a for-profit business. If you want to remain a for-profit business and someone steals from you, it is generally unwise to do nothing. The Voice has owned a registered trademark on 'Best of NYC' for more than a decade. New York magazine uses 'Best of New York.' Until last year, TONY used 'Best (and worst) of [year].' For some reason, this year they used our trademark. There's really not much point in owning a trademark if you're not going to defend it from theft."
Tagged
best of desperate media lawsuits
lawsuit
media
time out
village voice
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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