Lundberg Daughter, Son Involved in Trademark Suit

The publisher of The Lundberg Letter, a widely read publication that informs the energy industry of market trends, is suing her brother, claiming that he infringed on the newsletter’s trademark and its method of gathering information in a competing publication.

The U.S. District Court suit was filed Friday against Jan C. Lundberg on behalf of Lundberg Survey Inc., North Hollywood publisher of The Lundberg Letter, which was founded by the late Dan Lundberg.

Daughter Trilby Lundberg has been running the Lundberg Survey since her father died in 1986. Her brother publishes the competing Lundberg Reports out of Fredericksburg, Va.

Lundberg Survey has conducted market research and policy analysis for the petroleum and energy industries since its founding in 1962. In 1973, it began publishing The Lundberg Letter, which traces petroleum prices and reports other trends of interest to the industry.

Lundberg Survey said in the suit that Jan Lundberg was a key officer in the firm from 1970 until 1986, when he was terminated. During his employment, when he was privy to the Lundbergs’ industry contacts and research methods, the younger Lundberg quietly began forming an organization to launch his own newsletter, the suit said.