Tierney vs. Tierney: What's in a name?

IS BRIAN TIERNEY, the former CEO of a company that owned the Daily News, taking his own name in vain?

If he wasn't already, he might be now, given a civil suit that was filed this week in Common Pleas Court in which Tierney is listed as both a defendant and a plaintiff.

The case of Tierney v. Tierney pits the public-relations guru and his new firm, Brian Communications Group, against his old company, Tierney Communications, which claims that Tierney is violating an agreement not to use his own name in another business.

In the suit, Interpublic Group of Companies, which now owns Tierney Communications, claims that Tierney and his new firm "consistently misuse the 'Brian Tierney' name in order to unfairly compete against the Plaintiffs."

Lawrence G. McMichael, chairman of the litigation department at the Dilworth Paxson law firm, which represents Tierney, said that the firm would fight for his name.

"This case will be vigorously defended," McMichael said.

When Interpublic's predecessor purchased control of Tierney Communications and its related companies in 1998, Brian Tierney "agreed, in consideration of the considerable monies paid to him," to sell and transfer the rights and use of his name for a public-relations, marketing or advertising business, the suit said.

Tierney resigned from that company in 2003 and started another public-relations firm, the T2 Group, which he left in 2005.

In 2006, Tierney formed Philadelphia Media Holdings, which purchased the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com. In 2009, that company declared bankruptcy and the following year it was sold to hedge-fund investors.

After his foray into journalism, Tierney returned to public relations in 2010, when he formed Brian Communications Group, which includes a public-relations and a digital-marketing company headquartered in Bryn Mawr.

The suit from Tierney's former company takes issue with the use of the phrase "A Brian Tierney Company" under his new firm's logo and on its website.

Tierney Communications also claims that Tierney owns the domain name briantierney.com, and that when Internet users enter it into a web browser, they are taken to the Brian Communications Group site.

The suit claims that Tierney is trying to "confuse clients and prospective clients" of Tierney Communications and misdirect them to his new company.

Tierney Communications claims that a cease-and-desist letter was sent in May, to no avail.

McMichael, Tierney's attorney, said that the two sides have communicated since the letter was sent.

"Our clients were very surprised the other side resorted to litigation as opposed to just working something out," he said.

Tierney did not return a request for comment, but in a 2010 New York Times article he was quoted as saying that there "are millions and millions of reasons why" he couldn't use his last name in connection with his new firm but that "most people will know where Brian Tierney will be found."