Reports that two organizations were building fully-fledged news operations in Washington, D.C., have been met with appreciation, particularly in light of the devastating cuts at The Washington Post. When the Washington Post shed a third of its employees and gutted entire departments, particularly local news and sports, it opened up competition in the nation’s capital.
However, a recent trademark complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) suggests that the race to fill the news void has taken a turn towards the absurd.
The Washington Star has filed a complaint against NOTUS Media, which has announced its plan to rebrand as “The Star.” If you log into the NOTUS website today, you’re met with a pop-up note displaying a new logo and the news: “Coming Soon! NOTUS becomes The Star.”
In its filing, the Washington Star states that the proposed rebrand will infringe on its trademark, especially as the newspaper had been known as the Star throughout the Washington metropolitan area in years past.
The doors of the original Washington Star closed in 1981, but the trademark has been held since 2023 by Dovid Efune, the publisher of the New York Sun. The new Washington Star has been publishing on Substack, with plans for a dedicated website for the paper in the next couple of months and weekend print editions by the end of the year.
Efune appears to be following the same plan he used to rejuvenate the New York Sun—building daily reporting with a digital-first strategy and moving toward a weekly print edition. In an interview with the New York Times, Efune spoke of “reviving one of the great and epic rivalries of American journalism” by restoring the Washington Star as a counterweight to the Washington Post.
Before he can set his sights on the Post, there is a more immediate competitor facing Efune and the Washington Star: a deep-pocketed publisher with a familial link to the Washington Star.
The billionaire co-founder of Politico, Robert Allbritton, launched NOTUS in January 2024 and has doubled its staff over the past two months to increase its coverage of local news and sports. His father, Joe Allbritton, owned the Washington Star from 1975-78 as part of a media empire of newspapers and television stations. It’s clear that Robert Allbritton also envisions his digital news organization to be a rival to the Washington Post.
The complaint alleges that NOTUS Media’s decision to rebrand itself as The Star will cause confusion with its trademark. Some industry observers have equated Allbritton’s The Star with his father’s stewardship of the Washington Star. One example came from a professor of journalism who had previously written about the rivalry between the Allbrittons and the Graham family, owners of the Post. Media Nation’s report on NOTUS’s rebrand announces that “The Washington Star is back” to renew its rivalry with the Post. The ease with which even specialists conflate the two brands illustrates the difficulty the new Washington Star faces in fully capitalizing on the value of its trademark in a marketplace with two Stars.
The Wall Street Journal stated that Allbritton “plans to invest $10 million into the Star this year” as he chases “big name reporters to cover topics relevant to Washington’s powerful residents.” Allbritton notes that the decision to rename the publication the Star was a nod to the newspaper his father once owned, and although he considered purchasing the name, he “ultimately went with the Star to reflect broader coverage.” The complaint notes that an approach was made by NOTUS in March and April 2026 to negotiate the trademark purchase before walking away.
Efune transferred the trademark to the Washington Star Company, and the newspaper has been publishing under that name for the last several years. As the New York Times headline notes, if the rebrand goes ahead, there will effectively be two ‘Star’ news outlets in Washington.
The Washington Star Company, LLC v. NOTUS Media, LLC was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia on May 28, 2026. The plaintiff has asked for a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop NOTUS from rebranding as The Star this week. Judge Rossie Alston has set an emergency TRO hearing for Tuesday, June 2 at 10 am.
