On Tuesday, Bill Rock, the COO of Park City Mountain Resort, sent a letter to Park City Mayor Jack Thomas and city council stating that Vail would not "withdraw or amend" its application to trademark the name Park City. Tuesday night, the mayor responded with a statement to the Park City community. Thomas says he is "disappointed" with Rock's letter. He also says Vail "balked" at the city's attempts to come up with an agreement that protected local businesses that have the words "Park City" in its name from any legal actions from Vail. Thomas also says the city intends to ask the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a sixty day extension to possibly oppose Vail's trademark application. And the mayor implies that future collaborative projects between Park City Mountain Resort and the city could be at risk.
The city is taking a survey of residents to see what they think of the trademark issue. You can find that survey here.
Here is Mayor Jack Thomas' full statement:
Dear Community,
I am disappointed with the letter received from Park City Mountain Resort COO Bill Rock regarding the ski area’s unwillingness to honor their public statements by putting real commitments into a real agreement. The City Council directed our attorneys to simply convert what we heard first hand and publically from Vail into a binding agreement. No more. No less. And Vail balked, essentially saying just ‘trust us’ and we ‘will consider’ your concerns down the road. Well that just isn’t good enough. Park City sought to simply memorialize Vail’s commitments to: 1) not oppose existing municipal and local business use of “Park City”; 2) allow third parties legal protections in the future to also use “Park City”; and 3) eliminate confusion with existing municipal and local business signage, advertising and other co-existence uses. In return, Park City would not opposed the trademark application and affirmatively allow continued national and international use of the new “Park City” brand.
Park City previously obtained an extension until July 9th, 2016 to file an opposition to the trademark application for the word mark “Park City” by VR CPC Holdings, Inc. (“Vail Resorts”). The City intends to file for another 60 day extension this week. I hope the additional time allows both side to continue to work towards a reasonable solution. However, the City will continue to prepare its formal opposition to the application. This narrowing of the mark from “Park City Mountain Resort “ to “Park City” is a new brand for a new product which culminated from combining two previously distinct ski resorts, and everyone knows it. If progress does not continue towards an agreement, I intend to ask the City Council at the July 28th City Council meeting whether the City should continue talks regarding potential collaborative projects in the Lower Park Avenue Redevelopment Area and ski resort planning projects including the Park City Mountain Resort/Vail Master Plan. Park City previously had entered into a Letter of Intent with the prior owners of the Park City Mountain Resort regarding the possible contribution of RDA funds in potential projects involving parking, transportation and affordable housing.
The draft agreement proposed by Park City can be viewed at www.parkcity.org
Mayor Jack Thomas
