The historic "Camp Curry" name was restored today to the entrance sign at Curry Village in Yosemite National Park after a trademark dispute was settled with Delaware North, Inc./NPS
A years-long trademark dispute that caused Yosemite National Park to rename the historic place names of some of its most popular lodging and dining locations has ended, freeing the National Park Service to restore iconic names such as The Ahwahnee and Curry Village to sites in the park.
The Park Service on Monday announced that DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Inc. (Delaware North), a former concessionaire at the park, will transfer trademarks and service marks at issue in the lawsuit to Yosemite Hospitality, LLC (Aramark), the current concessionaire, as part of a settlement that included the U.S. government.
Under Aramark’s Yosemite concession contract with the National Park Service, those trademarks and service marks will transfer at no cost to the National Park Service upon the expiration or termination of Aramark’s contract. The settlement also involves Delaware North’s transfer of various types of tangible assets (not previously purchased by Aramark) to Aramark and the National Park Service. Finally, the settlement provides for payments to Delaware North from Aramark and the United States to resolve any and all contractual disputes among the three parties arising from Delaware North’s departure as a concessioner at Yosemite, and Aramark’s assumption of its Yosemite concession contract.
On Monday, a temporary banner that had covered the name "Camp Curry" at the entrance to Curry Village was removed.
Names that the park changed in 2016 in response to Delaware North's lawsuit included:
- The Ahwahnee became The Majestic Yosemite Hotel
- Curry Village became Half Dome Village
- Yosemite Lodge at the Falls became Yosemite Valley Lodge
- Wawona Hotel became: Big Trees Lodge
- Badger Pass Ski Area became: Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area
"The National Park Service looks forward to the restoration of some of the previous names of the properties at Yosemite, including the Ahwahnee hotel, and the resumed use of other trademarks in connection with concessioner activities at Yosemite," the Park Service said in a release. "Any changes to the current names of properties at Yosemite National Park following this settlement will be based upon a schedule to be determined by Aramark and the National Park Service."
It is expected to take up to several months to restore all signs and other materials.
The issue of trademarking words attached to properties in the National Park System arose in 2014, when the Park Service released a prospectus for a 15-year contract involving lodging and dining concessions at Yosemite. During the process, Delaware North, 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.
After Delaware North 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 Delaware North's intangible properties.
Yosemite National Park officials, looking to avoid a costly trademark fight with Delaware North, announced in January 2016 that they would change the names of iconic lodges in the park.
Delware North 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 concessionaire to Yosemite Hospitality, LLC.
Comments
what are the specific terms of the settlement and how much is the united states paying to delaware north?
I heard about $10-11 million with NPS paying out maybe $2.5 million and Aramark paying out the remainder.
edit: I found more specific numbers. NPS pays $3.84 million and Aramark $8.16 million.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/yosemite-national-park-name-changes/i...
If I were the NPS I would just say "bill me".
Most likely wouldn't be legal. Not that it might not be possible with this administration.
It could have been a worse. By Executive Order, The Ahwahnee could have been renamed Trump Tower at Yosemite Water Park.
So, how much "kickback" did NPS officials get for awarding the contract to Aramark in the first place? Usually, when a company's assets are acquired by another, there is compensation paid for "intellectual property," "good will," and trademarks. Why should this have been an exception?
Because those names existed prior to the contract by DPS. They in essense stole those names from the NPS when they took claim. The courts obviously were not going to agree so the park and new vendor apparently agreed to settle. Just because they settled doesn't mean they agree with the terms, just that they decided this amount of payout was more favorable than continueing to fight the claim in court, and pay the laywers etc.
At least now I can finish my book, YOSEMITE: THE EMBATTLED WILDERNESS, second edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). Meanwhile, just one reminder: This happened under Mr. Obama's Park Service, not Mr. Trump's.