"Israel Today" has asked the court to stop the acquisition of "Ma'ariv" news portal nrg, because trustee Chen Berdachev plans to transfer the domain name maariv.co.il to "The Jerusalem Post", which acquired the Hebrew daily. "Israel Today" argues that the domain name belongs to it as part of the acquisition of "Ma'ariv's" digital activity, because this Internet address transfers users to nrg's site.
Berdachev's position is that the domain name will go to buyer of the "Ma'ariv" print edition. "The Jerusalem Post" has already preparing the maariv.co.il site to carry "Ma'ariv Hashavua", which has been established on the basis of the purchased brand.
"Israel Today", owned by Sheldon Adelson, asked the court to order Berdachev to desist from separating the assets - the current activity between the buyers of "Makor Rishon", "Ma'ariv", and "nrg" - and to cease the experimental separation of the domain names.
According to source familiar with the deal, "Israel Today" wants to control the "Ma'ariv" brand and benefit from Internet users who think that the digital brand and the print brand are the same.
"This is another attempt by "Israel Today" to take over Israel's newspaper market by force, aggression, and crudity," a senior "Ma'ariv" source told "Globes". "There is no connection between 'nrg' and 'Ma'ariv'. There is no innocence or good faith here, not with the timing of the motion to the court, or in the motion itself. They're trying to get their hands on 'Ma'ariv'."
A source at "Israel Today" said, "The conduct of 'The Jerusalem Post' reflects its frustration that it was unable to acquire 'Makor Rishon' and 'nrg', which is the backdrop to the problems it created in the fair distribution of 'nrg' and 'Ma'ariv's' assets.".
"Israel Today" said that the parties were in contact on the proper and fair distribution of site's assets from "Ma'ariv".
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 28, 2014
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