A judge ruled Friday that the version of the Chattanooga Courier newspaper produced by local resident John Edwards can keep publishing under that name.

But Mr. Edwards said he changed the name anyway. The new name of the black-owned paper is the Chattanooga News Chronicle.

“It makes a clean break from the past and the problems we had with the former partner,” said Mr. Edwards, who now is president and CEO of the News Chronicle.

The conflict started in April when Pride Publishing Group CEO Meekhal Davis, which originally owned the Courier name, took Mr. Edwards to court to force him to stop using the name. Mr. Davis and Mr. Edwards once worked together to produce and publish the paper.

U.S. District Court Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice ruled Friday that Pride Publishing abandoned its trademark because it failed to exercise reasonable control over the use of the name.

Pride allowed its trademark on the Courier name to lapse in November 2004, according to court papers. Although Pride Publishing renewed the trademark in July 2007, Mr. Edwards continued publishing as the Chattanooga Courier after the lapse, effectively taking over the trademark, the court ruled.

Mr. Davis declined comment.

Pride Publishing, founded by Dr. Larry Davis, Meekhal Davis’ father, created the Chattanooga Courier in 1990 and contracted with Mr. Edwards in 1991 to operate the publication, according to court documents.

But when Pride Publishing was unable to pay Mr. Edwards for his service, court papers said, Mr. Edwards and Mr. Davis agreed that he would continue operating the paper and his pay would come from the advertising that he sold.

By the late 1990s, Mr. Edwards was listed in the newspaper as the publisher and editor. He also held the Hamilton County business licenses and paid local business taxes on the paper, court documents said. All of this was done with Dr. Davis’ knowledge, according to court documents.

By 2005, Mr. Edwards also had taken over laying out of the paper and in 2006, he took over printing it, court documents said.

After renewing the Courier trademark in September 2007, Mr. Davis began circulating a different Chattanooga Courier in the same locations as the one distributed by Mr. Edwards.

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