A California man is suing the Hilton Hotels Corporation for charging him 75 cents for a copy of the USA Today newspaper that he did not request, according to a complaint filed last week in federal court in San Francisco.

The man, Rodney Harmon of Sacramento County, spent the night of March 28 in the Hilton Garden Inn Sonoma County Airport. When he left his room the next morning, he saw a copy of USA Today on the floor in front of his door, the familiar, bright blue logo peering up at him. But Mr. Harmon, 55, was not interested. He stepped over the paper and walked away.

Several days later, according to his lawyer, Kirk J. Wolden, Mr. Harmon glanced at the Hilton Garden Inn pouch that held his key card and found that it said, in small print, that he would be charged for the paper unless he specifically un-requested it.

So he sued.

“Mr. Harmon and this law firm believe there is more at stake than 75 cents,” Mr. Wolden said Monday. “It exemplifies the types of advantages that, unfortunately, we see companies taking of you and I and everyone else every day.”