Court finds Mountain Citizen in contempt

By DANA EHLSCHIDE
News Bureau Director

A Martin circuit court judge found the Mountain Citizen’s owner, publisher and editor in contempt of court June 27 for violating a temporary restraining order issued in May.

Owner Lisa Stayton, Publisher Roger Smith and Editor Gary Ball were each fined $500 for continuing to use the name Mountain Citizen on their masthead after Judge Daniel Sparks ordered them to “cease and desist” from using the name.

The restraining order was issued after John R. Triplett, chairman of a local water board in Martin County who had received recent criticism from the Inez paper, claimed the rights of the name, Mountain Citizen, after the newspaper failed to file an annual report renewing its name.

In his memorandum opinion, Sparks states “the court would set a dangerous precedent if the actions of the defendant were not redressed in some manner.”

A show cause hearing was ordered in the case June 18 after David Fleenor, a Lexington trademark attorney, filed a motion in federal court to dissolve the restraining order. U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman said she lacked jurisdiction in the case and remanded it back to Martin County.

Representatives from the Inez newspaper testified before Sparks during the hearing arguing their weekly newspaper had the right to continue calling itself the Mountain Citizen despite Triplett’s claim to the name.

“It was our contention that we haven’t violated any laws,” said Gary Ball, Mountain Citizen editor. “We published under the name Mountain Citizen as we have for over 10 years. We did not publish under the name Mountain Citizen, Inc. which the restraining order prohibited us from doing.”

Sparks indicated in his written opinion on the case that “the defendants had sufficient knowledge of the surrounding circumstances to lead the Court to conclude that the defendants knew, or with due diligence or by reasonable interpretation should have discovered, that the restraining order intended to prohibit the use of the name “Mountain Citizen.”

Triplett withdrew the restraining order against the paper’s use of the name during the June 18 hearing until he could obtain more information on trademark laws.

According to Fleenor, the name is the property of the newspaper under federal common trademark law, even though it has never been officially registered. “You build trademark rights simply by using the name,” he said.

Smith said the paper will continue to publish each week using the name Mountain Citizen. “We now have a lot of money invested in that name,” Smith said following the contempt ruling.

The newspaper has continued to publish each week under its name, but now runs a disclaimer which states they are not “owned by, affiliated with, endorsed by or in any way connected to the following corporations: Mountain Citizen, Inc., Martin County-Tug Valley Mountain Citizen, Inc., Martin Countian, Inc., Martin County Mercury, Inc. or The Citizen.