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| Above, the Ahwahnee Hotel, now called the Majestic Yosemite Hotel due to the lawsuit. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The legal fight over trademarks of features at Yosemite National Park between the federal government and the former concessionaire of Yosemite, Delaware North, drags on. It may be years before a resolution is reached.
Delaware North wants over $50 million and the government wants to settle at around $4 million. There's a "slight" gulf here.
If you are not familiar with the fight, City Watch has posted an article that should bring you up to speed.
(Did you know that there are plans to rename the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with "United Airlines" attached to it? Nothing is sacred these days.)
A snippet from the City Watch article:
Delaware North claims it owns the intellectual property rights to those names because they bought them from the YPCC when the deal was made back in the 1990s. There is a lawsuit over Delaware North's claims, which may eventually resolve the argument. But in the meanwhile, park visitors are getting a crash course in what it's like to be caught between warring giants.
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The Park Service and the new concessionaire, instead of forking over a twentieth part of a billion dollars for the names, did something different. They decided to plaster up some replacement names and then carry on business as usual. Here is a glossary, giving the old name on the left and the new name on the right:
Wawona = Big Trees Lodge
Ahwahnee Hotel = Majestic Yosemite Hotel
Yosemite Lodge = Yosemite Valley Lodge
Curry Village = Half Dome Village
Yes, I know that this is ridiculous. The original names are remembered by people who learned them as school children and are now of retirement age. They are remembered by visitors from all around the world.
This fight makes our country look stupid.
To read more, go here.
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