Publisher Changes Name of Paper to Avoid Lawsuit

Trying to avert a lawsuit over charges of trademark infringement, a South County publisher this week changed the name of his fledgling tabloid to the Aliso Viejo News & Review.

Golden West Publishing, which prints a newspaper called the Aliso Viejo News along with eight other weeklies in southern Orange County, said it isn’t sure that the new name has been altered enough to avoid confusion in the community.

“There is still a question (of trademark infringement) that remains because the word News is still in their flag,” Doug Hanes, Golden West vice president, said Wednesday.

“We may eventually take a firm stance” on the new name, he said.

Golden West operates a chain of 13 weeklies, nine of which are in South County, including the Saddleback Valley News, the San Clemente News and the Capistrano Valley News.

Bill Thurman, publisher and co-owner of the Aliso Viejo News & Review, maintains that he has the rights to use the name Aliso Viejo News because he originally published under that name in early October, weeks before Golden West Publishing put out its first edition here.

But Thurman decided to change the name rather than get involved in a costly legal battle with Golden West, which is owned by Freedom Newspapers Inc., the publisher of the Orange County Register.

“We thought the money would be better spent improving the newspaper than fighting it out in court,” Thurman said. “With the Review at the end of our title, I don’t think there will be any confusion between the two of us.”

The first issue of the renamed Aliso Viejo News & Review, a semiweekly publication based in Laguna Hills, was distributed Monday night. Thurman is a Dana Point resident who says he has published a computer trade journal called the News & Review in Laguna Hills for almost six years.

Hanes said last week that Thurman’s publishing of the Aliso Viejo News was an infringement of a trademark that the chain had established in South County over several years.

The Golden West executive also said that Thurman’s first edition in October was a prototype printed for the use of advertising salespeople. Golden West published its first copy of the Aliso Viejo News on Oct. 31, several days before the second edition of Thurman’s newspaper was printed.

There are signs, however, that the dispute is being settled amicably.

Hanes and Thurman spoke to each other for the first time by telephone Wednesday, with both men describing the conversation as friendly. They agreed that taking the matter to court would not be wise.

“I think it would be a foolish waste of money,” Thurman said. And Hanes said: “Believe me, after this current recessionary period, the last thing both of us have on our mind is litigation.”

Both men indicated that there is room in Aliso Viejo, a planned community of 15,000 that is scheduled to expand to 48,000 by 2005, for both newspapers.

“Aliso Viejo is growing like crazy, and we’re going to grow with it,” Thurman said. “The competition will not be bad at all.”