Magazine accused in suit of stealing ads

PHOTOGRAPHER: James Schlett

A new Capital Region classified advertising magazine has allegedly been pillaging the want ad sections of other area publications for advertisements, prompting a lawsuit in federal court.

The Want Ad Digest is suing the publisher of the Classified Advertiser, a rival weekly publication that first hit newsstands last month and started appearing in Stewart’s Shops on Thursday. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court pits Want Ad Digest, which is based in Brunswick, against Display Advertising, a Watervliet firm that for 25 years designed ads for the classified publication with a weekly circulation of 20,000.

Following a contract dispute, Want Ad Digest severed its relationship with Display Advertising in December. That move forced Display founder Edward “Ned” Spain to come out of seven years of retirement in Naples, Fla. to create his own weekly publication called the Classified Advertiser. Needing to fill the magazine with content, Spain allegedly copied ads from Want Ad Digest.

Spain also initially used ads without authorization from The Daily Gazette and Albany Times Union for the Advertiser, but stopped that practice after officials at those newspapers complained. He said he continues to use ads from other area publications for the Advertiser, but he would not identify which publications.

“It has confused our customers because their content was put in another publication with a similar look and idea to the Want Ad Digest,” said Want Ad President Rosie Hastings, whose father, William Engelke, founded the publication in 1962.