Times Newspapers, Rupert Murdoch’s London-based newspaper outfit, argues that it is legally entitled to use the phrase “The Times Irish edition” to describe a new online edition in Ireland.
It denies that the use of such words runs the risk of creating confusion with the Irish Times, which therefore has no arguable case for infringement of its trademarks.
Brian Murray SC, counsel for Times Newspapers (TNL), told the Dublin commercial court on Wednesday that the company wants to use the words in order to tell potential customers what its product is about.
He said it was necessary for consumers to understand it was a newspaper dedicated to the Irish market and focused on Irish news.
Murray was making submissions in opposition to an application by the Irish Times for injunctions, pending the outcome of a full hearing, arising from the planned launch of the London Times’s digital publication, which is to be sold as part of a subscription package with the Sunday Times.
The Irish Times is seeking orders restraining TNL from promoting the digital publication by using the words “The Times Irish Edition” or any other title confusingly similar to the Irish Times.
Counsel for the Irish Times, Jonathan Newman SC, said his client was entitled to protect its brand among everybody who knew it, not just those who now bought it. If his client was wrongly seen as in alliance with the Sunday Times or the Times, it would affect its brand.
Newman said his side had received an open letter from the defendant’s solicitors and welcomed proposals of any nature as both companies had to co-exist in the market.
In that letter it was indicated TNL was prepared to make certain revisions to the masthead of the digital edition and would replace the words Irish edition with ROI (Republic of Ireland) edition. It was also proposed app stores would say Times and Sunday Times ROI edition.
But Newman said the Irish Times’s complaint “goes a lot further” than the masthead and centred on how the planned publication would be referred to in the period up to its publication.
The judge, Mr Justice John Hedigan, remarked there was “no such thing as the Republic of Ireland” as the country’s name was Ireland or Éire.
The hearing continues.
Sources: Irish Times/Irish Independent. For report on Tuesday’s hearing, see here.
