Phoenix New Times and Village Voice Media have filed suit against Ty Liebig, a former New Times staffer, for trademark infringement. Specifically, the companies claim that Liebig’s ownership of the website domain names bestofphoenix2011.com and bestofphoenix2012.com, violates their trademark of the term “Best of Phoenix.”

Nick Martin at Heat City, a website devoted to Phoenix area news, has the story:

Though the lawsuit didn’t say exactly what position he had there, it did say Liebig worked at the newspaper from May 1 until Aug. 11 of [2008], a little more than three months in all. It was during that short stint, the company alleges, that Liebig purchased the two Best of Phoenix domain names for himself.

Later, when the newspaper went to buy domain names through the year 2020, it discovered Liebig already owned them for 2011 and 2012.

This latest lawsuit by VVM attorneys comes on the heels of their efforts last month to defend the “Best of St. Louis” franchise against the holders of the domain name, bestofstlouis.com.