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TIME100 Talks vs Times Talks: A Trade Mark Dispute

Jurisdiction: United States; historical case commentary. Reviewed 27 October 2026.

Time and The New York Times share a familiar word, but trade mark analysis does not stop with a dictionary. This historical article concerns the lawsuit filed in November 2020 over TIME100 Talks and Times Talks.

The dispute as filed

The New York Times alleged that Time’s interview-event branding infringed its Times Talks mark. That was an allegation about particular branding and services, not a judgment giving one publisher every use of the word “time”. The case was filed as No. 1:20-cv-09787 in the Southern District of New York.

Common words can form distinctive marks

A word being common does not automatically make a mark generic for its registered goods or services. Genericness concerns whether the relevant public understands the term as the name of the category. Likely confusion is a separate question about source or affiliation.

What the original predictions got wrong

There was no basis to predict that both parties necessarily risked losing all their marks, or that the dispute would automatically turn on which publisher was older. Nor should an application described as pending in 2020 be presented as still pending today without checking its record.

This revised article is limited to the historical filing and the legal distinction. It does not report a verified final adjudication or current application status. Check the actual docket and trade mark record for those questions.

Stack of newspapers with a headline about the Time and New York Times dispute

Sources and further reading

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