In late November 2020, the New York Times (“NYT”) brought suit against Time Magazine (“Time”) for trademark infringement, among other claims, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. NYT alleged Time’s TIME100 TALKS was confusingly similar to its TIMES TALKS series. NYT alleged Time’s launched a “competing series of live and virtual recorded events consisting of conversations between journalists and leading talents and thinkers” in early 2020. See Case No. 1:20-cv-09787.
In mid-2020, Time filed U.S. Trademark App. No. 88/961,167 for TIME100 TALKS in connection with (Int’l. Class: 038) Streaming of video material on the Internet and (Int’l. Class: 041) Arranging, organizing, conducting, and hosting online educational and entertainment events; providing a website featuring non-downloadable videos. A few months later, and before the suit, an Examining Attorney at the U.S. PTO refused to register the mark on a likelihood of confusion basis with U.S. Trademark Reg. Nos. 2,475,639, 3,697,025, and 4,179,358 for TIMES TALKS, owned by NYFT.
NFT dismissed the suit with prejudice, and the suit settled in late February 2021. Time’s trademark application became abandoned on March 02, 2021.