A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday blocking the NOTUS news outlet from rebranding as The Star, granting relief sought by The Washington Star in a trademark dispute that has landed both outlets in federal court.
District Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., a Trump appointee, ordered the two media organizations to schedule a settlement conference within seven days of the order. A separate hearing regarding the NOTUS rebrand is set for July 22.
The order prevents NOTUS from launching its new domain name, advertising the rebrand, or otherwise rebranding as The Star, which had been scheduled to occur this week.
What the Right Is Saying
The Washington Star, which ceased printing in 1981 after filing for bankruptcy, is seeking to restart publication under Dovid Efune, publisher of The New York Sun. The revived outlet argues it holds rights to the historic name and that a competing publication using a similar brand could confuse readers.
By securing the temporary restraining order, The Washington Star has stalled NOTUS's rebrand while litigation proceeds. Judge Alston's order means both sides must attempt mediation before returning to court in July.
What the Left Is Saying
NOTUS has argued that trademark protections should not extend to a common word used broadly in journalism. In a statement to the New York Times when the lawsuit was filed, an outlet spokesman said: "The entity does not and cannot own the word 'Star,' which has been used by and associated with dozens of media publications for over 100 years."
"The entity itself only even claims to have recently adopted 'The Washington Star,' decades after numerous other 'Star' publications have been using 'Star' marks," the person added.
NOTUS had positioned its new venture as one that would "cover government, politics, policy, local news and D.C. sports with the power of The Washington Post in the 1970s, the punch of Politico in the 2010s and the audience focus required to build a sustainable news organization in 2026."
What the Numbers Show
The Washington Star operated as a daily afternoon newspaper in Washington, D.C., from 1852 until its closure in 1981, representing more than a century of publication. NOTUS had hired multiple former reporters from The Washington Post, including Dana Milbank, Paul Kane, Paige Cunningham, Sam Fortier, Missy Khamvongsa, Jeff Stein and Andrew Van Dam.
The rebrand decision came amid significant layoffs at The Washington Post, which has reshaped the local media landscape in the nation's capital. NOTUS had framed its launch as a response to gaps left by those departures.
The Bottom Line
The temporary restraining order pauses what had been an accelerating rivalry between two digital-era news ventures both seeking to fill space left by shrinking legacy newspapers in Washington. A settlement conference scheduled within the next week could resolve the dispute before July 22, though both sides appear prepared for a longer legal battle over the use of The Star name.