Fight For Ion Name Goes On

Internet Broadcast Network Positive Ions says it is continuing its court fight for exclusive rights to the "Ion" name.

That announcement was prompted by a press release last week announcing the rebranding of Ion Media Networks (formerly Paxson) to Ion Television.

Positive Ions' first suit Paxson was filed in June 2006 after Paxson announced it planned to change the name of its programming service on its 60-plus owned TV stations to Ion. That suit was dismissed, but a new suit was filed after the name change was made.

Just to make sure that the rebranding to Ion Television didn't leave the impression that the suit had been settled, Positive Ions counsel Jeff Sheldon issued a release monday saying the fight continued. "This recent re-branding announcement requires that Positive Ions make some public statement to reassure its existing users and advertisers that it is still pursuing its rights in Court," he said.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.