A judge has granted the two sides in the battle over trademarks to iconic Yosemite National Park facilities more time to negotiate a settlement/Pixaby

A measure of optimism has arisen in the Yosemite National Park trademarks battle between DNC Parks & Resorts and the federal government, with the parties gaining judicial approval to more time to negotiate a settlement.

In a brief filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith, lawyers for the two sides asked that a 90-day extension be approved for settlement talks. Without such an extension, the parties would move deep into the discovery phase of the civil case. With it, they would have until April 25, 2019, to complete fact discovery in the case, and until September 15 to complete all expert discovery.

"Good cause exists for the enlargement. The parties have been engaged in earnest settlement discussions since September 5, 2018," the 4-page filing (attached below) reads. "To reduce costs and avoid imposing potentially unnecessary burdens on witnesses, on August 23, 2018, the parties collectively agreed to suspend discovery during settlement discussions. Because settlement discussions have not reached an impasse, the parties’ agreement to suspend discovery continues."

Judge Campbell-Smith approved the request on Tuesday, and ordered that the two sides file a joint status report on their efforts no later than October 21, 2019.

"The status report shall state whether settlement is a feasible option in this case or whether the parties intend to file dispositive motions," she ordered. 

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.

If Delaware North was unsuccessful in bidding for the new contract, the company said at the time, it would seek $51 million to relinquish those marks, and other intellectual property, to the new concessionaire. That led the Park Service to say it would allow a concessionaire other than Delaware North to propose name changes to the facilities, which in some cases have been in operation for more than a century under the same name.

DNC did indeed lose the contract.

After DNC lost the concessions contract, the Buffalo, New York, company filed a $10 million-plus claim against the government. In that claim, DNC alleged breach of contract by the Park Service for its failure to require Yosemite Hospitality, LLC, an Aramark subsidiary that won the contract, to purchase DNC's intangible properties.

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

DNC Parks & Resorts officials quickly fired back, charging the Park Service with "using the beloved names of places in Yosemite National Park as a bargaining chip in a legal dispute between DNCY and the NPS involving basic contract rights."

Yosemite officials said they had no option but to change the names with the transition in concessionaires to Yosemite Hospitality, LLC.