John Koblin of the New York Observer reports that a lawyer from The New York Times Co. has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the marketing director at Dow Jones & Co. after a recent Wall Street Journal advertisement used the same language as a recent New York Times ad.
Koblin reports, “‘Not Just Wall Street. Every Street.’ That’s the language of a new New York Times advertisement. It’s an obvious dig at the Journal, and a familiar jab as the two papers have jostled for the cheekiest ads since the Journal‘s Greater New York section launched in April.
“But! On May 26, the Wall Street Journal had a house ad inside its pages, which described the Greater New York section this way: ‘Not Just Wall Street. Every Street.’
“The folks at the Times are not pleased about this. The Observer has obtained a copy of a cease-and-desist letter that Times Company lawyer Richard Samson just sent to the senior vice president of marketing at the Dow Jones Company, Jennifer Jehn.
“‘It has come to our attention that you deliberately used the identical Slogan in an advertisement for The Wall Street Journal in the May 26th issue of your publication,’ wrote Mr. Samson. ‘After an exhausting search of our records, we find no indication that you ever received permission to make use of our unique and proprietary Slogan.'”
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