Politics News Site NOTUS Rebrands as The Washington Sun

• Politics news site NOTUS is rebranding as The Washington Sun.
• The planned relaunch as The Washington Star was halted due to a trademark dispute.
• Robert Allbritton, founder of Politico and NOTUS, is behind the rebranding effort.
• Allbritton is reportedly seeking to significantly expand NOTUS into a full-scale news operation.
• The publication aims to compete with The Washington Post and has approached several of its journalists.

The politics news site NOTUS has officially rebranded as The Washington Sun following a legal dispute over its intended name, The Washington Star. The original plan to relaunch under the historic "Star" name was abandoned after the owners of the trademark, led by Dovid Efune, publisher of The New York Sun, sued NOTUS for infringement. A federal judge had previously blocked the rebranding on the eve of its launch.

Robert Allbritton, the founder of Politico and NOTUS, is reportedly investing significant capital to transform NOTUS into a comprehensive news operation in Washington D.C. This move is seen as a direct challenge to The Washington Post, which has recently undergone large-scale layoffs. Allbritton and NOTUS editor-in-chief Tim Grieve have actively recruited journalists from The Post, aiming to establish the new publication as an immediate player in the D.C. media landscape. The venture may also incorporate an events business and a subscription model, similar to Politico's success.

Allbritton, whose family previously owned The Washington Star before its closure in 1981 and later sold Riggs Bank and WJLA, sold Politico to Axel Springer for approximately $1 billion in 2021. The plans for The Washington Sun are described as fluid, with the name change being one of several evolving aspects of the early-stage venture.