Duluth News-Tribune v. Mesabi Publishing Co.

Duluth News-Tribune, a division of Northwest Publications, Inc. (Duluth) (plaintiff), circulated a daily newspaper called the Duluth News-Tribune in northeastern Minnesota, including a distinct geographic area known as the Iron Range. Mesabi Publishing Company and Hibbing Tribune Company, Inc. (defendants), both subsidiaries of the Murphy Publishing Company (collectively, Murphy), also published newspapers in the Iron Range. The two Murphy papers began to jointly publish a Saturday edition called the Saturday Daily News Tribune that was distributed throughout the Iron Range and included news coverage that was similar to Duluth’s. Murphy’s paper featured a blue banner below the title reading, “Publication of the Mesabi Daily News, Virginia and Daily Tribune, Hibbing.” In response to complaints from Duluth about the similarity of the name of the new Saturday paper to Duluth’s paper, Murphy added an ampersand between the words News and Tribune in the new publication. Approximately 92 percent of Murphy’s sales were home subscriptions. An additional 2 percent of papers were sold through newspaper racks that clearly identified Murphy as the publisher. On one occasion, Duluth received a letter from a reader offering editorial suggestions about an article that appeared in the Murphy paper, not the Duluth paper. Duluth filed suit against Murphy, claiming trademark infringement under the Lanham Act (act). The district court entered summary judgment in favor of Murphy, and Duluth appealed.