Boston magazine sues new rival over ad list
Even as Niche Media's soon-to-be launched luxury magazine changes its name to settle one lawsuit, it finds itself facing litigation from another potential rival.
Niche's new publication -- slated for a September rollout in Boston -- has changed its name from Boston Commonwealth to Boston Common, resolving a legal dispute with the publisher of the public policy magazine CommonWealth, which had sued claiming the similar names would create confusion.
But Metro Corp. -- which publishes Boston magazine -- is now suing Niche Media and three former Boston magazine sales staffers who left to work at the new magazine. The complaint, filed Thursday in Suffolk County Superior Court, alleges that the defendants stole a protected database with the names of more than 3,000 recent, active, or potential advertisers who accounted for more than $12 million in ad revenue in 2004. The plaintiffs are seeking damages, the return of the list, and a ban on contacts between the defendants and the advertisers on the list for two years.
''They are using our proprietary database of advertising contacts," said Boston magazine executive vice president Dan Scully. He said the information includes advertisers' addresses, the names of key decision makers, and notes based on past sales calls. ''This isn't about preventing someone from prospecting . . . from doing business. It's intellectual property we have acquired and protected legally over many years."
''I think it's interesting that they appropriated someone else's name, and now they've appropriated someone else's database," he added.
Niche Media publisher Jason Binn issued a statement yesterday that said: ''Niche Media has not yet been served with a complaint. It is therefore difficult for Niche Media to respond. I am very surprised that this action was started at all. However, Niche Media will defend this in all respects. It is my opinion that the Boston market is extremely competitive when it comes to media."
A 1989 Boston University graduate, Binn operates a group of glitzy lifestyle magazines -- Los Angeles Confidential, Aspen Peak, Gotham, and Hamptons -- that cater to wealthy readers and high-end consumers. Along with the debut of Boston Common, he is scheduled to unveil a Washington, D.C., publication in September. In Boston, Niche Media plans to distribute 70,000 copies five times a year, targeting hotels, restaurants, and clubs, homes valued at more than $750,000, and households with incomes over $250,000.
Boston magazine, which has been around since 1962, is a monthly with a circulation of almost 120,000 and an affluent readership. The magazine's promotional materials indicate that 66 percent of its readers are in professional or managerial jobs, 82 percent have college degrees, and 63 percent have household incomes over $100,000. Aside from the ad employees who migrated to Boston Common magazine, Boston magazine executive editor Kim Atkinson also signed on to become editor in chief.
Although Boston Common would appear to be a natural competitor to Boston magazine, the similarities between the Niche Media publication and CommonWealth are less obvious. Published by MassINC, a nonprofit think tank, the 9-year-old CommonWealth is a quarterly focused on policy issues that costs less than $1 million a year to operate.
When Niche Media announced it was launching a magazine called Boston Commonwealth, MassINC officials became alarmed. After several months of sporadic contact between the two sides, MassINC filed a trademark infringement suit against Niche Media in US District Court on March 7.
''We don't want our name associated with celebrity watching and high-society parties," said CommonWealth publisher Ian Bowles.
Niche's lawyer initially called the plaintiff's claims ''baseless and without merit." But this week the company changed the name.
''As soon as we understood the level of CommonWealth's concern, we reached an amicable understanding," Binn said in a statement.
Bowles issued his own statement yesterday: ''The matter has been resolved amicably."
