‘Double’ trouble: Entrepreneur mag vs. subscriber
ENTREPRENEUR magazine skipped its June issue because of the pandemic — and it’s getting static about it from a subscriber with a longstanding beef.
As recently as 2017, the glossy book for small businesses was publishing monthly and charging $19.99 a year for a subscription. Then Entrepreneur began cutting back — to 10 issues last year and eight this year.
The skipped issue in June — which the publisher said will be part of a “double issue” in September — means only seven issues this year.
“I suspect their September 2020 issue will be a ‘double issue’ in name only,” griped subscriber Scott Smith. “Their last single-month issue was the March 2020 issue, and it was about 110 pages. So a double issue would need to be around 200 pages. Not gonna happen.”
Accordingly, Smith says he is pushing parent company Entrepreneur Media to offer either refunds or subscription extensions for the nearly 400,000 subscribers it claims to have.
“We didn’t publish in June, but we’re not alone in that,” said Entrepreneur Media president Bill Shaw, blaming the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Shaw noted that Smith has a history with the magazine that goes back more than 20 years, when Entrepreneur Media sued and won a protracted legal battle against him over trademark infringement.
“He still owes us nearly $2 million,” Shaw said.
Smith shoots back that Entrepreneur Media has aggressively sued anyone who uses the word “entrepreneur” in their business. “They think they own the word,” he said.
Indeed, Entrepreneur has been so aggressive in patrolling its name that Businessweek magazine once wrote a story asking, “Why is Entrepreneur Magazine Bullying Entrepreneurs?”
Smith said his dispute started in 1999 when he started a public relations company called EntrepreneurPR. He put together a custom published booklet called Entrepreneur Illustrated, in which he wrote short puff pieces on the firm’s small-business clients.
Entrepreneur Media caught wind of it and sent a cease-and-desist letter on the company’s name and the booklet. Smith ignored it and continued to use the name. Then he said he was hit with a lawsuit in federal court.
At one point, Smith said the magazine’s longtime owner, Peter Shea, flew from Entrepreneur’s offices in Irvine, Calif., to meet Smith at the p.r. firm’s small office in Sacramento and proposed a settlement. They came to an agreement, but Smith and his then-partner balked at changing the name of Entrepreneur Illustrated, so the suit went ahead.
Smith said he lost Round 1 in court because the judge didn’t get the difference between a p.r. firm and a publishing company and felt there could be confusion in the marketplace.
The decision was reversed on appeal, with the higher court ruling that the magazine’s claim to the trademark for Entrepreneur was
“weak.” But the retrial landed back with the same judge and Smith lost again.
Smith said the cost of the litigation “bankrupted me.” The judge ordered him to turn over $600,000 in profits — which he claims he did not have — plus pick up the legal fees of $700,000. The $1.3 million tab remains unpaid.
“If you have a trademark, you have to protect yourself, otherwise you will lose your rights to it,” said Entrepreneur CEO Ryan Shea, son of the magazine’s owner. “Do I want to go after everybody? No. I’d rather have that money back in my pocket. Like everyone else, we’re trying to survive.”
He said his 50-employee company has laid off only two people since the pandemic hit in March and advertising collapsed for everyone. Asked about the money owed by Smith, Shea said: “It’s close to $2 million now with interest . . . but we’ve never collected a dime from Scott Smith.”
Shaw, who has been president at Entrepreneur since 2015, said that ever since losing his court case, Smith “has been like a troll,” constantly trying to deride Entrepreneur Media. But Smith, who has a new firm called BizStarz, said Entrepreneur Media’s ruthless trademark policing continues.
Indeed, Entrepreneur currently has a lawsuit against a teacher who started a company called Teacherpreneur Type. It’s also fighting various trademark applications for Kickass Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur Story Time and Entrepreneur Kid. Shaw said of the latest subscription dispute, “Anyone who wants a refund can have a refund.” Smith said that he actually has two paid subscriptions, one going to his home and one going to his office. He said customer service offered to extend his subscription when he recently called to complain, but says the magazine should have done it without him calling.
“There is still no proof that subs were refunded or extended for the other times they reduced their issues by switching to bimonthly issues,” Smith said. “And I seriously doubt September will be a fat double issue.”