# What happens if two magazines have the same name?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 28, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625 "2005-07-28T19:16:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/1 "2005-07-28T19:16:02Z")
I’m sure Time Warner would immediately shut down anybody who tries to make a magazine with a name even remotely similar to _Time_, but what if two publishers happen to make _Obscurity Magazine_?
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### Author:  [@big\_dogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_dogs)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/2 "2005-07-28T19:21:15Z")
Whoever comes up with it first could easily sue the other and force a name change.
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### Author:  [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/3 "2005-07-28T19:27:17Z")
What if they come out approximately the same time? Or if they come out at different times, but one is a paper magazine, one is a web site, and one is a newsletter?
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/4 "2005-07-28T19:33:36Z")
This actually happens a lot. There were two magazines called **Archaeoastronomy** – one British and one American. I think one of them got absorbed into another, avoiding the issue of who should change their name.
Another case was the Sociology magazine originally known as **Tras/Action** , which changed its name to **Society**. Another magazine later on wanted to split into subsidiary issues, one of which would be **Society** , but the “transcation” version already had the name, and wouldn’t change, so they got to keep it.
In general, most people want to keep their product distinct, and so won’t use a name or logo already in use. This only becomes a problem when big-money bullies want to have their own way, like when Lauren apparently sued **Polo** magazine over their use of the name (And they had it first! And were writing about the actual sport of Polo!)
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/5 "2005-07-28T20:38:15Z")
One example of this was when Oprah Winfrey started a magazine and called it O. But there already was a magazine called O - a German soft-core bondage magazine. The German publisher sued Winfrey’s publisher but lost the case. The judge ruled that there wouldn’t be any confusion between the two magazines. The decision was criticized by many.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/6 "2005-07-28T20:57:40Z")
Assuming one or both publishers want to officially trademark the name, there’s a whole body of law that deals with this.
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### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/7 "2005-07-28T21:26:19Z")
A while back, The Daily Show did a bit on the two magazines that were called “South Jersey Magazine”. I can’t find anything on it on the web, but one of their domains no longer works so I think they lost.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/8 "2005-07-28T21:52:06Z")
There are a lot of periodicals with similar or identical names, actually - libraries and other trade tools tend to distinguish them with, say, “Obscurity Monthly (Boston)” and “Obscurity Monthly (U.K.)” or something similar.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/9 "2005-07-29T02:43:55Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> There are a lot of periodicals with similar or identical names, actually - libraries and other trade tools tend to distinguish them with, say, “Obscurity Monthly (Boston)” and “Obscurity Monthly (U.K.)” or something similar.
And librarians deal with titles that are shared by a lot more than 2 magazines, like “Bulletin”, “Newsletter” and “Review”.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/10 "2005-07-29T03:14:44Z")
There is the newspaper USA Today, but there has also been a relatively small magazine about education called USA Today that has been around for the same amount of time. The magazine took the name “USA Today” in 1978 after changing its name from “Intellect”. And USA Today or as it’s known in library cataloging world “USA Today (Arlington, Viriginia)” started in 1982.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/11 "2005-07-29T03:50:23Z")
There is a German (I think) periodical called “O” which is of rather a racy genre, so I’m told. When Oprah was looking to publisher her own periodical, which she wanted to call “O” the existing company contacted her and advised that the name was already taken. Neither Oprah nor “O” wanted their target audiences to be confused. Oprah modified her publication’s title so that you would clearly know it was hers and not the more entertaining one.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/12 "2005-07-29T05:33:57Z")
> [@The Controvert](#):
>
> What if they come out approximately the same time?
Doesn’t matter. One will have trademarked the name before the other, and so they have the rights to it.
But there are lots of exceptions, and these help to keep lawyers employed.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-two-magazines-have-the-same-name/314625/13 "2005-07-29T13:22:21Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> And librarians deal with titles that are shared by a lot more than 2 magazines, like “Bulletin”, “Newsletter” and “Review”.
Yeah, it can often be a huge pain if you don’t have the issue right in front of you to figure out in, say, Ulrich’s, which “The Bulletin” you’re looking for.