Defense Dept. buys domestic, privately owned Stars & Stripes

PITTSBURGH -- The Defense Department has purchased the domestic version of Stars & Stripes, putting all rights to the name under a single owner for the first time since World War II.

The Defense Department paid $85,000 in a bankruptcy auction Tuesday to buy the trademark, archives and Web site of a bankrupt Internet start-up, which bought the newspaper two years ago.

The purchase settles decades of debate over which version, the privately owned U.S. one or the government-owned overseas version, is the successor to the paper first published during the Civil War.

"It was creating a lot of confusion," said Thomas Kelsch, publisher of the government-owned Stars & Stripes.

Stars & Stripes Omnimedia Inc. of Pittsburgh filed for bankruptcy in August. Publication has stopped and there are no plans to resume.

Jack Colletti, co-founder and chairman of Omnimedia, said the Defense Department "accomplished what they were trying to do for years, grab that intellectual property and stamp it out."