Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

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TahoeJeff
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Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

Post by TahoeJeff »

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Delaware North stoops to a new low---please boycott them

Post by balzaccom »

If you know anywhere that Delaware North is trying to stay open for business in the USA, please let us know, so that we can advocate a boycott of their services.

What jerks!

The U.S. Justice Department has responded publicly for the first time to the lawsuit that DNC filed over the trademark of Yosemite iconic names like the Ahwahnee and Curry Village:

“With an aggressive, 25-page lawsuit response that foreshadows more maneuvering to come, the Justice Department publicly asserts for the first time that the former Yosemite concessionaire proposed an “improper and wildly inflated” value for the trademarked park names.

The company, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc., demanded to be paid for the trademarks it valued at $44 million. The National Park Service, by contrast, said the trademarks for such park names as “The Ahwahnee” hotel were worth only $1.63 million.

“DNCY’s parent company has apparently embarked on a business model whereby it collects trademarks to the names of iconic property owned by the United States,” Justice Department attorney John H. Robertson wrote.

The parent company, Buffalo, N.Y.-based Delaware North, also has a concession at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and “has a trademark application for the name ‘Space Shuttle Atlantis,’ ” Robertson pointedly noted.”


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Re: Delaware North stoops to a new low---please boycott them

Post by venturefar »

The name "Delaware" and the concept of "north" is their original intellectual property too right? :angry: This is pretty disgusting.
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Re: Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

Post by Troutdog 59 »

DNC [-X owns and operates the Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp. :littledevil:
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Re: Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

Post by RoguePhotonic »

I want some Ahwahnee Indians to show up and say no you owe US money because we own that name! :D
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Re: Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

Post by alc101ma »

The whole patent and trademark process is completely messed up... [-(
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Re: Delaware North stoops to a new low---please boycott them

Post by markskor »

balzaccom wrote: “With an aggressive, 25-page lawsuit response that foreshadows more maneuvering to come, the Justice Department publicly asserts for the first time that the former Yosemite concessionaire proposed an “improper and wildly inflated” value for the trademarked park names.

The company, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc., demanded to be paid for the trademarks it valued at $44 million. The National Park Service, by contrast, said the trademarks for such park names as “The Ahwahnee” hotel were worth only $1.63 million.


Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/art ... 72300.html
IIRC, Delaware North, when they took over the concession 15 years prior, were, at that time, forced by Curry Co. to pay ~$20 million for the rights to - those specific Yosemite names...(a similar "name" clause codicil was written into the contract way back when).
While detesting DNC for any variety of different reasons unrelated... where was the outrage shown at that time for DNC having to pay these requested (mandated?) fees for these names - like Half Dome or Ahwahnee? They were forced to to pay for these "names" in order to take over the Yosemite contract then, and yes, it was wrong way back then too...but still accepted/ considered legal at the time?
Hard to have it both ways.
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balzaccom
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Re: Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

Post by balzaccom »

The complaint is that now that they are being forced to sell the names back to the next concessionaire, they have vastly inflated the prices. And they have also trademarked other iconic place names such as the Space Shuttle Atlantic...huh?
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Name changes in the works to avoid a bit of the lawsuit

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http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/50740 ... artslide=0
FRESNO — The names of iconic hotels and other facilities in the world-famous Yosemite National Park will soon change in an ongoing battle over who owns the intellectual property, park officials said Thursday.

The famed Ahwahnee Hotel will become the Majestic Yosemite Hotel, and Curry Village will become Half Dome Village, said park spokesman Scott Gediman.

The move comes in an ongoing dispute with Delaware North, the company that lost a $2 billion bid — the National Park Services largest single contract — to run Yosemite's hotels, restaurants and outdoor activities.

Delaware North demands to be paid $51 million for the names and other intellectual property, and the New York-based firm filed a lawsuit last year, saying it paid for the intellectual property when it took over the park concessions in 1993.

Park officials are making the name changes to avoid any disruptions during the transition to a new concessionaire on March 1, when the name changes go into effect, Gediman said. He said the park service is fighting for the rights to the original names.

"We're clearly in disagreement with Delaware North," he said. "We're taking this action to ensure the seamless transition."

The Yosemite Lodge at the Falls will turn into Yosemite Valley Lodge; Wawona Hotel will become Big Trees Lodge; and Badger Pass Ski Area will be called Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area.

Yosemite National Park — another name which is also claimed by Delaware North and remains in dispute— will stay put, Gediman said.

National Park Service says the names and other intellectual property are worth about $3.5 million, according to the government's response to a lawsuit that Delaware North filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Lisa Cesaro, a spokeswoman for Delaware North Subsidiary called DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc. was not immediately available for comment.

Justice Department attorney John Robertson wrote in court papers that the company "wildly inflated" the value of the trademark names. He added that Delaware North has "breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing."

The trademark dispute at Yosemite has led to similar challenges at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas and the Grand Canyon in Arizona and with other iconic pieces of Americana owned by the U.S. government, such the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Delaware North of New York has said that when it first won the concessions contract in 1993, the park service required the company to buy the former concessionaire's assets.

The park service belatedly learned of the trademark issue when it prepared to open bids for the concessionary operation. Yosemite awarded a 15-year contract to Aramark last year.

Delaware North also runs concessions at the Kennedy Space Center and has a trademark application for "Space Shuttle Atlantis," government court papers say.

Delaware North "apparently embarked on a business model where by it collects trademarks to the names of iconic property owned by the United States," Robertson wrote.
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Re: Big $ for Yose trademarked park names

Post by RoguePhotonic »

To avoid any detailed rant i'll just say only in America!
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