The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against micropayments service Kachingle on grounds of trademark infringement, in relation to the site’s ‘Stop the Paywall’ campaign.

According to a post by paidContent, the New York Times claims that Kachingle contacted its executives in February last year to discuss having access to articles and blogs in return for money collected from consumers. But the paper said it told the site it was not interested after finding out it wanted to keep a portion of the micropayments, paidContent reports.

According to the NYTCo’s legal filing, last month, Kachingle opened a site called Kachinglex.com, which looks very much like a NYTimes.com blog page. “Did you hear about the looming paywall?” the site’s home asks as part of its marketing materials. “Here at Kachingle, we are committed to helping keep the web open and social.  Kachingle is an alternative to a forced, solitary paywall. And now you can support the New York Times blogs you love directly, with a voluntary contribution of just $5/month.”

The look of that site is apparently what the NYTCo decided to go after, saying it tries to make it seem as if there is a business relationship between the two.

See the full legal filing below courtesy of Scribd: