• by Tony Silber , Staff Writer, April 4, 2022

For the media industry, awards and recognition programs are big business. Regional magazines and websites publish lists of the “Top Docs,” the best restaurants, the local movers and shakers in business, and lots more. They’re ubiquitous -- and popular with readers.

Similar lists are equally as common in vertical media, both B2B and consumer. And of course, on the national level, list-based journalism is a longtime staple: The Time 100. The Fortune 500. The Forbes 400. U.S. News’ university rankings. The Harper’s Index. Consumer Reports’ best new cars. A zillion “Best Places To Work” lists.

Other than their popularity among readers, there’s another reason for the proliferation of lists: Awards and recognition programs can be very profitable. Media brands produce awards shows, where recipients pay for the privilege of attending and buy tables for friends, family, business associates. Then media brands sell congratulatory ads throughout the supply chain, ads from the recipient’s own company and all its customers and suppliers.

It’s not surprising, then, that one list producer would go to court to protect its turf. That’s exactly what happened in Washington, D.C. last week, when the owner of the 40-year-old “Best Lawyers” program, Augusta, Georgia-based BL Rankings, sued the monthly Washingtonian magazine in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for trademark infringement because it published its own “Best Lawyers” list. Washingtonian even included BL Rankings’ Best Lawyers logo in a blurb about one of its own best lawyers.

“Through its unauthorized and infringing uses of the “BEST LAWYERS” Marks, Washingtonian is deliberately and improperly capitalizing upon the goodwill that Best Lawyers has built up in its BEST LAWYERS Marks,” the suit alleged. “Washingtonian’s unauthorized, unlawful and intentional use of the BEST LAWYERS Marks has caused, and will continue to cause, a likelihood of confusion among consumers and potential customers and the public as to the source or origin of Washingtonian’s products and the sponsorship or endorsement of those goods and services by Best Lawyers."

The dustup was first reported by Reuters. In an exchange of letters last summer, the Washingtonian’s lawyers said it was “disingenuous” for BL Rankings to contend that the use of the phrase “best lawyers” would cause confusion or was intended to deceive.

BL Rankings is asking the court to order the Washingtonian to stop using that “best lawyers” term in its ranking, to destroy all confusing materials, and to pay BL Rankings all gains derived from its use of the phrase.