2 DC Media Outlets in Court Over Who Gets to Be 'the Star'

Washington's media scene apparently isn't big enough for two "Stars," at least for now. A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked political news site NOTUS from rolling out a rebrand as "the Star," siding for the moment with a rival online publication, the Washington Star. Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. granted a temporary restraining order after the Washington Star's owner argued the new name would mislead readers, noting both outlets are chasing the same DC-area audience in the wake of mass layoffs and cuts at the Washington Post, reports the New York Times.

NOTUS, founded in 2023 by Politico co-founder Robert Allbritton, had planned the name change for an expansion into local news and sports, as well as to counter a lack of name recognition, reports the Washington Post: NOTUS never gained traction, to the point where President Trump told a reporter, "I don't even know what the hell that is. Get yourself a real job." The Washington Star, recently revived by New York Sun publisher Dovid Efune, began publishing on Substack last week after he acquired the trademark in 2024. NOTUS' lawyers countered that "Star" has been widely used in media for more than a century. The judge barred NOTUS, for now, from using "the Star," "the Washington Star," or similar names and from launching a new domain, but did not require scrubbing existing online references. A hearing is set for July 22.