Armed with a trademark, Entrepreneur Magazine targets newsletters using the word entrepreneur.

Newsletters, magazines and journals with the word "entrepreneur" in their titles are receiving both actual and perceived legal actions from Entrepreneur Magazine, whose vice president and editorial director, Rieva Lesonsky, told Indianapolis Business Journal (4/30/01), "You cannot put out a publication using the word entrepreneur. We filed for trademark protection on that word and we got it."

Entrepreneur Media Inc., the magazine's parent company, was granted a trademark on the word entrepreneur in 1982. Efforts to reach EMI were unsuccessful.

A prominent case in this saga of litigation is Scott Smith, of Sacramento, California, who lost to EMI twice in court. Smith subsequently changed the name of his public relations firm EntrepreneurPR to BizStarz, the name of his website EntrepreneurPR.com to BizStarz.com, and the name of the booklet of his clients' press releases from "Entrepreneur Illustrated" to "BizStarz Quarterly."

Smith's website states, "Due to Entrepreneur Magazine's aggressive efforts to monopolize the word 'entrepreneur,' EntrepreneurPR was forced to change its name to BizStarz in June 2000 and again in July 2003."

Referring to a unaminous February 2002 ruling by the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals, Smith characterized Entrepreneur Magazine's trademark as "weak," but the fact of the matter is that EMI won--to the tune of $1.4 million in damages and attorneys' fees. BizStarz is again appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals "to rule that Entrepreneur Magazine does not have extensive rights to the word 'entrepreneur.'"

Smith told The Newsletter on Newsletters that his legal fees have been in excess of $100,000.

Publications change names

While still using Female Entrepreneur as its online domain name, the magazine has changed its logo to Fempreneur. Editor Keli Swenson speaks rarely to the press about the name change.

NL/NL attempted to contact a number of "entrepreneurial" newsletter editors by e-mail and telephone. The only one to reply stated simply, "I respectfully ask not to be included in your article."

Stephen Morris's Young Entrepreneur changed its name to Y & E. In March 2000 Forbes magazine wrote, "Stephen Morris was thrilled when Entrepreneur Magazine plugged Atlanta-based business Kids Way three years ago. Today, he and vice president Misty Elliott wish Entrepreneur had never heard of them."

Iventure, a website (www.entrepreneur.net) that describes itself as "a network about the word entrepreneur and keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive", wrote in an undated article, "Morris didn't want to waste time on a costly defense and changed the newsletter's name to Y & E, which has hampered subscription renewals. 'It seems they're going after the little guys who don't have the resources to fight them,' says Elliott,'" iventure reported.

Other "little guys" who have changed the name of their publications include:

* Publishing Entrepreneur, which is now called Independent Publisher.

* Asian Entrepreneur, which is now called Asian Enterprise.

* The Entrepreneur, a small alumni newsletter published by Carnegie Mellon University's Donald Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, which received a "cease and desist" letter from EMI dated July 17, 2001, for "flagrant infringement" on its magazine's trademark.

The EMI legal counsel's letter is at www.entrepreneur.net/docs/melloncease.html.

The grad school's publication is now called The Donald Jones Center for Entrepreneurship Newsletter.

Editors reluctant to speak

Although some articles on this matter have appeared over the years in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, most of the publishers and editors (except for Scott Smith) featuring the word entrepreneur in their titles are not speaking to the press.

Smith had warned us: "Many of the publishers of other 'entrepreneur' newsletters will be afraid to speak on the record (they are, of course, afraid of getting on Entrepreneur Magazine's 'radar,' although most probably already are since it's so easy to find them via internet searches."

A bibliographical shortlist of 'entrepreneurial' publications

In addition to the titles mentioned above, a sampling of pertinent newsletters, magazines and journals includes:

* Carolina Entrepreneur, Chapel Hill, N.C., not currently being published;

* Authentic Entrepreneur, Las Vegas, Nevada, which is trademarked;

* Entrepreneurial Notes, published by the Morrison Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, Minnesota;

* Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, published by Baylor University's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Waco, Texas;

* The Entrepreneur's Chronicle, published by The Entrepreneurs' Coalition, Chapel Hill, N.C.;

* The Entrepreneur's Journal, published by Central Valley Business Incubator Inc., Clovis, Calif.;

* The Entrepreneur's Newsletter, published by Riverview Partners Inc., West Newbury, Mass.;

* Extreme Entrepreneur E-Letter, published by New York City-based Michael Simmons, interestingly enough also a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine;

* The Film Entrepreneur, Sherman Oaks, Calif., currently out of print; and

* Japan Entrepreneur Report, published by SunBridge Corp., Portland, Oregon.

EMI, 2445 McCabe Way, Irvine, CA 92614, 949-261-2325, www.entrepreneur.com

BizStarz, 5714 Folsom Blvd. #140, Sacramento, CA 95819, 916-453-8611, www.bizstarz.com