Associated Loses Court Appeal Over Metro Title

Associated Newspapers lost its appeal to use the word Metro on the north-west edition of its free morning paper yesterday. The newspaper group is now subject to the findings of an interim ruling, held on Wednesday, which found it did not have the right to use the masthead in the city of Manchester.

The group has been fighting for turf in the region since it launched its free morning newspaper on the same day and using the same title as Guardian Media Group’s Manchester Metro News. The Guardian Group claims that it has the right to the name through its weekly MetroNews, established twelve years ago. Associated, which already owns a London Metro title, claimed to have exclusive rights to the name and to have obtained distribution rights within Manchester (see Manchester In Local Newspaper War).

Yesterday’s judgment forbids Associated from using the title within 15 miles of the city and forces it to withdraw its newspaper from Monday. A full trial is expected to complete the case in May. It is unknown at present whether Associated will change the name of its newspaper or withdraw completely from the city.

In the fight for the exclusive rights to the Metro title Associated has itself bought a High Court action against the Swedish Modern Times Group, which this week launched its free Metro title in Newcastle. According to a report in Press Gazette, the Newcastle Chronicle & Journal brought the masthead licence from Associated and launched a Metro title one week before the MTG group. As soon as its rival hit the streets, Associated launched a High Court action against the Swedish group for using the title. MTG has been planning the Newcastle paper for some time and claims that Associated stole its whole Metro concept, which has been successful in Sweden since 1995.

Associated Newspapers: 020 7938 6000 Manchester Guardian: 0161 832 7200