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Park City Businesses Might Lose Right To Use 'Park City' In Their Names

Getty Images/istockphoto.com

Businesses that use the words ‘Park City’ in their names might lose the right to do so.  The company Vail Resorts has filed an application to trademark Park City.

Vail Resorts operates the Park City Mountain Resort marketed simply as ‘Park City.’ Since filing their trademark application, several companies have filed to trademark their own name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Katharine Wang is the director of the Park City Film Series. She saw Vail Resort’s Trademark application several months ago and says she’s taking action to protect her company’s brand.

“Certainly there’s a value to our name in our community and what we do as the Park City Film Series" she says. "So we went ahead and filed out our own application to make sure there would be no overlap or confusion with the services that we provide, and that we wouldn’t be blocked potentially from using our name in the future if Vail’s application was successful.”

Kristin Williams is a spokesperson for Vail Resorts. She said in a statement that her company has no intention of interfering with the many local businesses that use ‘Park City’ in their name. They applied for the trademark in order to keep another ski resort in the United States from calling themselves Park City.

Robert Hibl is the owner of Park City Coffee Roaster. He says businesses owned by Vail Resorts could have an unfair advantage if they’re the only ones with the rights to the name ‘Park City.’

“So they’re going to be in direct competition with existing businesses if they’re given the opportunity to use the word ‘Park City’ and those other businesses aren’t, in my opinion it’s an unfair practice, I don’t think anyone should have the right to do that trademark – the name ‘Park City’” he says.

Park City leaders are planning to address the trademark controversy at a city council meeting on June 9.

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