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| Above, the former Ahwahnee Hotel. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
It appears that the legal fight between Delaware North and the federal government will drag on into 2019.
National Parks Traveler reported:
It could easily be mid-2019 before any clarity is shed on the dispute between DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite and the National Park Service over who owns the rights to such iconic Yosemite National Park names as The Ahwahnee, Curry Village, and the Wawona Hotel.
Court documents in the standoff that dates to 2014 show that the two sides have until July 23, 2019, to report back to U.S. District Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith on whether they are optimistic that they can negotiate a settlement.
The issue of trademarking words attached to properties in the National Park System arose in 2014 year when the Park Service released a prospectus for a 15-year contract involving lodging and dining concessions at Yosemite. During the process, DNC, which had held the concessions business in Yosemite since 1993, notified the Park Service that it owned "intellectual property" rights in the form of trademarks attached to lodgings in the park.
Yosemite National Park officials, looking to avoid a costly trademark fight with DNC Parks & Resorts, announced in January 2016 that they would change the names of iconic lodges in the park. The Ahwahnee Hotel, for instance, would be known going forward as the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. The new names were chosen in order to minimize the impact on visitors, the park announced, and include:
● Yosemite Lodge at the Falls to become: Yosemite Valley Lodge
● The Ahwahnee to become: The Majestic Yosemite Hotel
● Curry Village to become: Half Dome Village
● Wawona Hotel to become: Big Trees Lodge
● Badger Pass Ski Area to become: Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area
To read more, go here.
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