Trademark Troll Company Trying To Take Yosemite Away From Us

A trademark troll that used to run concessions at Yosemite
National Park is threatening to not allow anybody to
use the names of iconic buildings and features at the park
unless the U.S. government and taxpayers cave
in to its extortion demands. They might get away with it. 

An outfit called DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite not long ago lost a contract to have concessions that ran various businesses around Yosemite National Park.

For one reason or another, they lost the contract to do that.

Now, they're demanding the National Park Serve change the names of iconic buildings and locations around and in Yosemite that have had their names for decades.

They're arguing trademark protection.

Incredibly, the National Parks Service is caving to these demands, I guess because they don't want to pay lawyers' fees to defend against this outrage.  I get the idea of not wasting taxpayer money, but do we really want to cave to trademark trolls?

These are publicly owned landmarks that they're changing the names of. In other words, you, me, and every other American owns this stuff.  But, a private company is forcing the change of fun and especially profit.

Yosemite landmarks like the Ahwahnee Hotel, the Yosemite Lodge, the Wawoman Hotel, Curry Village and Badger Pass ski area will have to change their names, signs maps and guidebooks to satisfy the morons at DNC.

It gets worse. DNC, a division of Delaware North also claims it holds the trademark for any merchandise and it alone can sell things like Yosemite shirts, mugs and whatnot, says BoingBoing, using Outside Magazine as a source

Says BoingBoing, via Outside:

"DNC refuses to hand over those trademarks unless the incoming concessionaire buys it out, setting in motion a chain reaction that will presumably endure until the end of the USA itself in which the sums that concessionaires bid to profit from public property are reduced by the expected dead-weight losses to license trademarks that should never have been granted in the first place.

DNC also registered trademarks for other U.S. public property, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis."

Makes you wonder if the very name of Yosemite National Park will go away.

Judging from what's going on, that doesn't seem so far-fetched now, because it does appear to be unclear how far DNC will go to make its private profit from a name all of us as taxpayers, should rightly own.

Says Outside, quoting Yosemite (for now!) National Park Spokesman Scott Gediman:

"The outgoing company also trademarked 'Yosemite National Park' for merchandising purposes, said Gediman. Will you be able to buy a Yosemite t-shirt at the gift shop come March 1? 'That's something that remains to be determined,' Gediman said."

What about the fact that, as I noted, the public owns this park, despite DNC's trademarking spree.

Outside magazine again:

"Gediman added, 'We feel very strongly that these historic names are associated with the buildings and belong to the American people.' As for the value DNC has attached to them, 'We strongly disagree with the numbers.'"

From what I see, DNC is a classic trademark troll, which is a variation of the always hated patent troll. 

Patent trolls try to extort money from businesses by claiming patents on commonly used equipment these businesses have in their offices and factories. These businesses find it less expensive to just pay patent troll extortion demands than fighting them with expensive lawyers in an iffy judicial process.

Trademark trolls basically do the same thing with objects and brands they don't really own. All for fun and profit, you understand. Especially profit.

I'm all for trademarking original ideas, businesses, merchandise and that type of thing, but DNC's trademark efforts are a great example of how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is being abused.

According to Outside, government attorneys, and basically anybody watching the case, thinks this is just the way DNC's does "business," to make any money they can, however they can. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seems to have no teeth, or no decent regulations on trademarks and patents.

Editorialized BoingBoing in a post I heartily agree with:

"It's evidence of the dysfunction of the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, which should be heartily embarrassed by this, and the cult of fiduciary duty, which holds that companies should do anything they can to earn a profit for their shareholders, no matter how odius and unethical."

That "fiduciary duty" to me is a part of a larger American shortcoming these days. Everybody yells about their rights, but ignore the responsibilities and ethics that accompany those rights.

Yes, we have the right to make a profit, to have successful businesses. But what gives anybody the right to run roughshod over everything and everyone else, in the name of greed.

Right, Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli?

Obviously, I hope DNC somehow loses out, or gets its comeuppance like Shkreli did.

But I'm not optimistic.

Makes me wonder if every name, everything we do, will have some corporate for-profit stamp on it.

That would be a shame.

People Ask The Dumbest, Most Hilarious Question. Here's Your Proof

One record store customer asked for Cuban music
that was like Jimmy Buffett songs without
the Jimmy Buffett. Huh?  

Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that some customers have a knack for asking the most bizarre questions or making the most unusual requests.

Put it this way. You know that saying, "There's no such thing as a stupid question."

Well, in retail, that's totally not true.

One guy who works in a record store has kept a book full of them since 2002.  He compiled some of his favorite customer interactions at DangerousMinds.net

Here are a few of the best:

Customer: OK. There's a Beatles album...it's really rare...it's worth a whole lot of money. Do you now which one it is?
Clerk: No.
Customer: OK, How much would it be worth?

Customer: There's this lady that just put out a song. I don't know what it is.
(This is the only information the customer provided)

Customer: I'm looking for "Theme From A Summer Place"
Clerk: Do you know by who? About 100 different artists have done that song.
Customer: There's no ARTIST! It's an INSTRUMENTAL!

Customer has an inquiry about the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions
Customer: What does BBC Session mean?
Clerk: Well, it would have been a session recorded for British BBC radio.
Customer: So is it in English?

Customer: Do y'all have an Cuban music? LIke Kenny Chesney or Jimmy Buffett but without the Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett?

Of course, there have always been dumb questions in any customer interaction. I still enjoy an Outside Magazine compilation from way back in 1995 of questions tourists asked while at National Parks.

A few of my favorites from that list:

Denali National Park, Alaska:
"How often do you mow the tundra?"
"How much does Mount McKinley weigh?"  

One tourist asked how people built the Grand Canyon
and what year it was built. Umm....  

Prince William Sound, Alaska:
Tourist while kayaking at sea: "What elevation are we at?"

Yosemite National Park
"What time do you turn on the falls?"
"Can I get my picture taken with the carving of President Clinton?"

Mammoth Cave:
"How much of Mammoth Cave is under ground?"

Grand Canyon National Park
"Was this man-made? How did they make it?"
"What year did they build this?"
"Exactly why did you guys put it here?"

Yellowstone National Park
"How do you turn Old Faithful on?"
"Where do the animals sleep at night?"
"When do the deer turn into elk?"

Mesa Verde National Park
"Why did they build ruins?"
"Why did they build the ruins so close to the road?"

Carlsbad National Caverns
"What's in the unexplored part of the cave?"
"So what is this, just a hole in the ground?"
"How many ping pong balls would it take to fill this up?"

So, what kinds of dumb questions have you been asked? Respond with a reply to this blog.

Another Politician Tries To Outcrazy The Crazy: Would Arrest Federal Employees In Wyoming

This guy probably would like to see
strip mines in Yellowstone Park.  

Meet Taylor Haynes, our latest in a series of crazies running for public office.

This guy, I think is almost as wacko as the guy I told you about recently who wants to nullify an Oklahoma election because he thinks his opponent is a body double or hologram.

No body doubles in this Wyoming case, that I know of.

But Taylor Haynes has aspirations to become the state's next governor.

His first idea is crazy enough. He wants to open Yellowstone National Park to mining and logging.

I supposed that would make money, but what of the $723.3 million all those tourists to the national park bring to Wyoming?

He later backed off on the idea a bit because of an outcry, saying he was just trying to call attention to Yellowstone, is all. 

OK, whatever.

But that mining, grazing idea is stirring in Haynes head.

He would rid Wyoming of the federal workers who manage parks, mining, grazing, that sort of thing.  aUm, since when is Wyoming an independent country?

Anyway, according to the Casper Star-Tribune, here's what Haynes would do:

"He would send federal agencies a certified letter inviting them to a meeting where he will explain his plans. They would then all have to be gone from the state of Wyoming by the day he takes office in January, 2015, or risk being jailed for "impersonating a law enforcement officer in Wyoming."

However, Haynes would be nice enough to offer these people state jobs to replace the federal jobs they lost.

Haynes apparently doesn't have a good chance of winning the Wyoming gubernatorial contest. Which is good, since it would be a bummer to fall into a coal mine while trying to witness Old Faithful.