LVCVA
Regains Control of Popular Slogan
The exclusive right to
use the popular tourism slogan "What happens
here, stays here" was put back into the
hands of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority on Tuesday.
So, too, was the
exclusive right to profit from the slogan, which
has become part of the nation's vernacular.
The LVCVA gave away those rights to its advertising
agency, R&R Partners Inc. of Las Vegas,
in a trademark transfer agreement last November
between authority President Rossi Ralenkotter
and R&R Chief Executive Billy Vassiliadis.
Both said the purpose of the agreement was
to put R&R in a better position to defend
the slogan in a trademark infringement lawsuit
that the ad agency filed in March 2004 against
clothier Dorothy Tovar of Placerville, Calif.
The LVCVA has since joined R&R as a plaintiff
in the lawsuit, which challenges Tovar's use
of the slogan, "What happens in Vegas,
stays in Vegas," on a line of clothing
sold at Las Vegas Strip resorts.
After the Sun reported on the secret agreement
earlier this year -- an agreement signed without
the authority board's knowledge -- LVCVA hired
international law firm Morrison & Foerster
to review the authority's trademark policies
and to defend the authority in court.
One of the law firm's recommendations, adopted
Tuesday by the board, was to amend the trademark
transfer agreement so that R&R would retain
ownership of the "What happens here"
mark but give the LVCVA exclusive right to use
and sublicense the slogan for any goods and
services.
Doug Hendricks, a partner in the law firm,
said the amended agreement means that only the
authority can profit from the slogan. R&R
devised the slogan for the authority as part
of a tourism marketing campaign that was paid
for mostly through revenue from hotel and motel
room taxes.
"R&R can't profit from any license,"
Hendricks said of the amendment.
The board also adopted other recommendations
from the law firm that will require the authority
to retain ownership of all future trademarks;
give the authority's legal counsel independence
from the president by reporting directly to
the board chairman under certain circumstances;
and clarify LVCVA policies on the purchase of
goods and services and the acquisition of property.
"This is a radical change because we're
codifying the way we do business instead of
the good old boy way of doing business,"
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, board chairman,
said after the meeting. "Now, it will all
be in black and white."
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