The stones on these people

Posted by: Rick_D

The stones on these people - 01/06/16 05:10 PM

Seems like the recently replaced Yosemite Park concessionaire has little parting gift for the Park Service and by extension--us.

Quote:
Yosemite National Park’s former concessionaire surprised federal officials by quietly trademarking high-profile park names and then “grossly” overvaluing the intellectual property in an unjustified bid for millions of dollars, government lawyers contend in a new legal filing this week.

With an aggressive, 25-page lawsuit response that foreshadows more maneuvering to come, the Justice Department publicly asserts for the first time that the former Yosemite concessionaire proposed an “improper and wildly inflated” value for the trademarked park names.

The company, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc., demanded to be paid for the trademarks it valued at $44 million. The National Park Service, by contrast, said the trademarks for such park names as “The Ahwahnee” hotel were worth only $1.63 million.


Not quite on the same level as swooping on out-of-patent drugs and jacking the price several thousandfold, but most certainly the same scavenger mindset.

Grrrr.
Posted by: aimless

Re: The stones on these people - 01/06/16 05:29 PM

This sort of nonsense is what gives lawyers a bad name. The act of trademarking the names was bare-faced, greedy opportunism, but could conceivably be justified as a valid business practice. This is just attempted extortion.