NYT Threatens Republicans with Copyright Lawsuit Over Use of NYT's "World-Famous Gothic Font"

The Republican Governors Association set up a website called The Corzine Times to campaign against New Jersey's Democratic governor Jon Corzine.

A lawyer for the New York Times, Deborah Beshaw, has sent a "cease and desist" letter to the RGA that takes issue with the RGA's use of the NYT's trademark "world-famous Gothic font, which registration is now incontestable."

The title for the site is designed to recall the world famous, protected New York Times logo, and the pages use the same fonts and layout as nytimes.com in order to mimic its design. Such copying is a clear infringement of The Times's rights under the Copyright Act of 1976 and falsely suggests, in violation of the Lanham Act, that the Times has sponsored or is otherwise associated with your website.

I have left a message for Beshaw to see exactly what they want the RGA to do to make the Times happy. Is it okay to use the name "The Corzine Times" in different font, or would that too closely 'mimic' the NYT? The RGA will probably fight this on principle (and I suspect that a lawsuit from the Times probably won't hurt fundraising).

But if the RGA does decide to change the font of The Corzine Times, I can't recommend Aldine 721 highly enough.