Will the real Stars and Stripes please stand up?

Military personnel and veterans may be wondering which Stars and Stripes to salute, in an emerging battle between two publications with the same name.

On one side of the battle, there's the Defense Department's Stars and Stripes newspaper, which publishes European and Pacific editions for troops stationed overseas. The paper is supported by subscription sales, advertising and a subsidy from the Pentagon.

On the other side, there's The Stars and Stripes, a private publication for veterans recently acquired by iServed.com, an online publishing company. The Stars and Stripes will be published online and in print.

Since iServed.com purchased The Stars and Stripes-and the U.S. trademark for the name-from the original owner of the veterans' paper, the company has begun a marketing campaign to draw in new readers. Thomas Kelsch, the publisher of DoD's Stars and Stripes, says iServed.com has been leading an intentionally confusing campaign to make people think The Stars and Stripes is the same as Stars and Stripes-even after the Pentagon cried foul.

"The other guys have continued a very agressive posture of promoting themselves as us," said Kelsch.

Jack Colletti, CEO of iServed.com, said his company has clearly described the difference between The Stars and Stripes and the Defense Department's European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.

"In fact, we strongly support these publications and their efforts to provide news and content to our active military overseas," Colletti said in a statement.

The history of the two Stars and Stripes began in 1861, when a group of Union soldiers got their hands on a printing press in Bloomfield, Mo., and started publishing a paper called The Stars and Stripes for their fellow soldiers. When the Civil War ended, the paper stopped publishing.

In 1877, several of The Stars and Stripes founders helped establish a newspaper for veterans called The National Tribune. That paper continued publishing through World War I, when several soldiers serving in Europe launched a new The Stars and Stripes. After the war, the soldiers re-established the paper in the United States. The National Tribune Corp. bought The Stars and Stripes in 1926 and rolled several papers it was publishing, including The National Tribune, into The Stars and Stripes.

During World War II, the Defense Department created a newspaper called Stars and Stripes for troops overseas. The Pentagon has supported the paper ever since. According to iServed.com, National Tribune Corp. granted DoD limited rights to use the name Stars and Stripes for the overseas publication in 1942.

This year, iServed.com acquired The Stars and Stripes from The National Tribune Corp.

DoD's Kelsch acknowledged that iServed.com owns the domestic trademark for the Stars and Stripes name-but added that DoD owns the trademark in 14 other countries. Kelsch said the value of a trademark is the reputation behind that trademark.

"The situation here is that one organization has the trademark and the other has the reputation," he said.

Kelsch said DoD is reviewing its legal options.

On The Stars and Stripes Web site, iServed.com has published two letters from the late 1960s from DoD officials who acknowledge that the trademark belongs to the veterans' paper, and that the veterans' paper granted DoD a limited license to use the name.

But in one endorsement of iServed.com's publication, Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., said, "During my service the Persian Gulf, The Stars and Stripes served as a vital link to the news back home."

Buyer and others "remember the real Stars and Stripes, which is our publication," Kelsch said.

Colletti said Buyer and other politicians who have endorsed iServed.com, are aware of the distinction between the domestic The Stars and Stripes and DoD's overseas Stars and Stripes.

"Nonetheless, we do regret any recent confusion that may have resulted from statements made by politicians and other well-known individuals," Colletti said. "It appears that there was some confusion due to the extensive history behind The Stars and Stripes name and the existence of the European and Pacific editions, which license the name from us."

The Stars and Stripes saga is not the only trademark battle raging between a federal agency and an Internet company. The Minerals Management Service, which has applied for trademark protection for the name "GovWorks," is wrangling with a private company called GovWorks.com that plans to provide government services over the Internet.