Village Voice Media and Yelp Reach Agreement: Yelp Will No Longer Use ‘Best of’
As part of an agreement between Village Voice Media (VVM) and Yelp, Yelp will no longer say “Best of [city name].” Instead, Yelp will go back to this format: “Best of Yelp: [city name].” This comes less than a month after VVM filed a complaint against Yelp regarding the “Best of” phrase in various cities. The “Best of” trademarks will become the property of Voice Media Group, which purchased VVM’s publication assets abut two months ago. “In its October filing, VVM claimed ownership of the term, which is uses to identify the best in each category – restaurants, entertainment, shopping, events, etc. – in special annual editions. Therefore, the company argued, Yelp’s use of VVM’s allegedly trademarked phrase in cities like Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, and St. Louis, among others, is trademark infringement.” (PCMag.com)
