NY Times Threatens Neighborhoodies' Hosting Company Over Herald Tribune Logo

On Thursday, we wrote about the NY Times Company threatening to sue custom-apparel company Neighborhoodies over its use of the logo for the long-dead New York Herald Tribune newspaper. And now that the ‘hoodies have made it clear that they have no intent on complying with the Times’ cease-and-desist order, the media giant has made an end-run around the shirt sellers, threatening legal action against the company that hosts Neighborhoodies’ site.

Writing to the hosting company, the Times’ Co.’s attorney — who apparently is not a fan of the films of Godard — says:

I hereby request that the referenced url be disabled immediately and the infringing materials, taken down.

Unfortunately for Neighborhoodies, the hosting company has said they will comply with the Times Co.’s request. So the offending shirt is no longer for sale while Neighborhoodies preps for changing hosts.

Neighborhoodies Sr. VP, Marketing and Business Development tells Consumerist:

We’re not going to be bullied around so long as we’re within our rights — we’re moving to a new server over the weekend.

For those who have no idea what the New York Herald Tribune was, it was a newspaper that operated in the middle of the 20th century and has not been published since the late 1960s. The paper’s cultural permanence was cemented by the 1960 French New Wave classic Breathless, in which actress Jean Seberg looks mighty fetching in her Herald Tribune shirt as she attempts to sell the paper on the streets of Paris.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.