The New York Times has walked away from efforts to stop Time magazine from using the “Time 100 Talks” name for the series of discussions it hosts with influential people, Media Ink has learned.
The Gray Lady withdrew its complaint on Feb. 26 — just four months after claiming that the name infringed on the trademark of its own live-event series “TimesTalks.”
Court documents show the newspaper agreed to drop the case “with prejudice” meaning the case can’t be refiled.
Sources say no money changed hands and Time magazine will continue to use the “Time 100 Talks” name to promote its talks with high-profile people.
In fact, Time president and editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal posted interviews with comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, Rise founder Amanda Nguyen and author and former Time editor Walter Isaacson on Feb. 26, the same day the suit was dropped, under the Time 100 Talks logo.
Time declined to comment, while the New York Times offered a statement suggesting they prevailed in court.
“We’re pleased to have reached this outcome, which allows Time100 Talks to coexist with TimesTalks in a way that won’t cause confusion among readers, which was our primary consideration,” said an NYT spokeswoman.
Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and wife Lynne, who bought Time for $190 million in 2018, have been pushing into podcasts, live events and TV shows to offset the declines in print.
When the suit was initially filed a Time spokeswoman blasted it as “baseless and somewhat bewildering.”
“The TIME 100 brand has been registered as a trademark and widely recognized for more than two decades, and the word ‘talks’ is commonly used across similar programs in many industries,” she said.
