YesterdayDaze moved into Seminole Heights (in CENTRAL Tampa) in February 2004. The South Tampa News is a weekly paper owned by the Tribune's mother company. We in Seminole Heights do not get that paper. Sherry did not know she had won that award of Best of South Tampa - Antique Shop, until it was given to her recently by a Tampa Tribune ad rep. This was given to her when that rep came to discuss an ad proposal. I love the fact that the best Antique Store in South Tampa is not in South Tampa.
Apparently the Tribune is trying to get Seminole Heights businesses to get together for a large ad, under the title of Seminole Heights. This ad would go into the South Tampa section of the Tribune.
However the businesses have said no, because we are not South Tampa. They have said rename the section to something more inclusive and they will give their money to the Tribune.
I urge businesses in Ybor City, Tampa Heights, West Tampa, and East Tampa to do the same. Tell them you would be glad to advertise if South Tampa section were renamed to something more reflective of the area. Since they do not seen to listen to there subscribers, perhaps they will listen to the advertisers.
I think the best name is the Tampa Times, which was an old Tampa paper that the Tribune absorbed years ago. Anyone else have ideas for names?
there's already a tampa bay times, it would cause confusion.
ReplyDeleteTribune, St. Petersburg Times settle trademark issue lawsuit
ReplyDeleteThe Tampa Tribune
September 3, 1994
Author: DAVE SZYMANSKI; Tribune Staff Writer
TAMPA -- The Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times agreed Friday to end a two-year court battle over trademark issues involving the name "The Times" after the St. Petersburg daily dropped the word "Tampa" from its front page nameplate.
The two newspapers on Friday filed a "stipulation for dismissal" of the Tribune's lawsuit and the St. Petersburg Times' countersuit in U.S. District Court in Tampa.
However, a third party in the Tribune's suit, The Times, a newspaper published out of London, said Friday it will continue its trademark battle against the St. Petersburg Times.
The St. Petersburg daily uses the name "The Times" on the front page of its Hillsborough County editions. Its other editions are called St. Petersburg Times.
"They [St. Petersburg Times officials] have made settlement offers, but they have been rejected as unacceptable by my client," said Anthony Handal, a Washington, D.C., attorney for the London-based newspaper that circulates in the United States and Florida. "We are proceeding toward trial."
The Tribune decided to drop its 1992 suit after the St. Petersburg Times earlier this year removed the word "Tampa" from a prominent area in orange boldface type left of its front-page The Times nameplate.
The Tribune's parent company, The Tribune Co., acquired an afternoon daily newspaper, The Tampa Times, in 1958 and has held a trademark on that name, The Tampa Times, since 1970. The Tampa Times is still published on Sundays by The Tribune Co. as The Tampa Tribune and The Tampa Times.
"Our contention was that the combination of The Times and Tampa was unfair competition and infringement of our trademark," said Tribune attorney Gregg Thomas of the Tampa law firm Holland & Knight. "We thought it created reader confusion over who was the owner of this renamed newspaper."
The St. Petersburg Times was glad to get the suit at least partly resolved.
"Both parties believe it's better to devote their resources to news coverage rather than fighting a fellow newspaper in court," said St. Petersburg Times attorney Ken Guckenberger of the St. Petersburg law firm of Rahdert & Anderson.
Thomas said the agreement does not prevent the Tribune from challenging the St. Petersburg newspaper again in court if the St. Petersburg paper uses the name The Times in combination with the word Tampa on its front page nameplate again.
"If they go back, that infringes on our name, The Tampa Times, then we have the right to pursue that claim," Thomas said. "We're not surrendering any rights here."