The Irish Times has launched High Court proceedings against Times Newspapers Ltd over the alleged intended use by the UK publisher of the title 'The Times Ireland' for a new online newspaper.
The Irish Times Ltd, which is the publisher of the newspaper, says the use of the title for the digital paper, which it claims is due to start publishing "imminently", amounts to a breach of the Irish Times trade mark and infringes its copyright.
Senior Counsel for the Irish Times Jonathan Newman said his client has brought proceedings because the "potential for confusion is enormous". The proposed use of the name ‘The Times Ireland’ was "a very serious violation" of its copyright, Mr Newman added.
The new publication, the court heard, is a digital edition of the Times due to be part of a seven-day subscription package with 'The Sunday Times'.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan granted lawyers for the Irish Times, following an ex-parte application, permission to serve short notice of the proceedings against the Times Newspaper Ltd. The Judge made the matter returnable to a date later this month.
In its proceedings the Irish Times seeks several orders, including ones preventing Times Newspapers Ltd from using the name or title 'The Times Ireland’, or any name similar to the Irish Times in respect of a newspaper or online newspaper.
The Irish Times is also seeking orders prohibiting the defendant using the domain names www.thetimesireland.ie, www.timesireland.ie, using the description 'The Times Ireland' on Twitter accounts, using the 'T' logo on its Twitter account, or any other logo confusingly similar to the 'IT' logo.
Mr Newman said The Irish Times has been aware for some months the defendants intended to publish an Irish edition e-paper and had no issue with that. However, the paper does have a complaint about the use of titles such as 'The Times Ireland' or 'Times Ireland.'
Mr Newman said The Irish Times only became aware in the last week, following posts on social media, that the defendants’ proposed publication would be called 'The Times Ireland'. He claimed the use of the name will cause his clients, whose own online publication has six million views per month, "enormous problems".
He said undertakings had been sought from the defendants not to use those titles and that no such undertakings have been given.
Mr Newman said in correspondence lawyers for the Times Newspapers said there was no basis for asking the High Court to have the injunctions sought put in place.
The correspondence also stated the Irish Times knew since last February that it had intended to launch ‘The Times Ireland’. There were no imminent plans for the proposed publication to be launched prior to 5 June, the correspondence added.
A spokesperson for News UK & Ireland (the company behind the proposed ‘The Times Ireland’ online paper) told RTÉ News: “We will be launching our new offering for our Irish audience in due course and in the meantime we will seek to address any concerns The Irish Times has.
"Ireland has a rich tradition of strong and respected journalism and we are very excited and proud to be bringing our proposition to market”, the spokesperson added.
