Photographers know the golden hour as those fleeting minutes in the early morning and again in the early evening when the angle of sunshine creates softer, more vibrant lighting for photos. In Yosemite National Park, the golden hour is more like the golden season: autumn.

With word that efforts to settle their differences over the ownership of trademarks to iconic Yosemite National Park landmarks failed, a legal battle between the National Park Service and DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite is expected to resume in the U.S Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. Julia Huston, a partner and chair of the Trademark, Copyright, & Unfair Competition Practice at the law firm of Foley Hoag LLP, weighs in on the standoff in this column.

During a 32-year-period early in the 20th century roughly one-third of Yosemite National Park was released so it could be opened to natural resource extraction, according to an analysis published in Ecology and Society.

An ongoing impasse over the value of trademarks held by DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite is pointing to a lengthy legal battle between the concessionaire and the federal government, one likely to drag on for another year at least.