AP’s Lanham Act Claims Against All Headline News Corp. Dismissible – NY District Court

Holding:

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed plaintiff Associated Press’ (“AP”) complaint that defendant All Headline News Corp. (“AHN”) infringed its trademarks in “AP,” “Associated Press,” and the “The Associated Press,” in connection with AHN’s news service. In so ruling, the district court rejected AP’s argument that AHN’s news articles mislead readers into believing that they are issued by plaintiff by using phrases like “(a)ccording to an AP report.” The district court held that such allegations were merely conclusory and not supported by factual assertions. Additionally, the district court found no merit in AP’s unfair competition claim under the Lanham Act. Assuming the truth of plaintiff’s allegation that AHN labels itself a “news service” but employs no reporters, the district court could not hold AHN liable under this claim because the statute does not render such conduct unlawful.

Detailed Summary:

This action arose out of the activities of AHN, an online venture that disseminates news reports to customer web sites, including reports of breaking news.

In its amended complaint, AP described itself as “one of the world’s oldest and largest news organizations” and “the ‘gold standard’ of objective journalism.” Opinion, p. 1.

AP brought this action alleging that defendants engaged in “free riding” on the AP’s news articles. Specifically, it alleged that defendants have unlawfully copied and altered AP news stories in violation of the federal Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 106, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 1202,…

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