From the towering rockface of El Capitan to the rushing waters of the Merced River, Yosemite National Park embodies everything that is most pure, free and inspiring about the American West. At least it did until “Yosemite National Park” became the subject of a multimillion-dollar contract dispute between the government and a corporation from Buffalo, New York, that claims to have trademarked the name of the park and many of its best known attractions.
The row has escalated to the point at which park officials have renamed many of its landmarks this week and stopped selling many souvenir items in gift shops to stave off the threat of further legal action.
The changes came into effect at 12.01am on March 1, when the operating contract for much of the park’s tourist infrastructure expired and workers began changing road signs and covering plaques featuring the original names. The luxury Ahwahnee Hotel on the valley floor, a park institution built in 1927, became the Majestic Yosemite Hotel (its historic sign did not need to be altered; it was stolen on Saturday night), while the Badger Pass Ski Area morphed into the Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area.
Visitors and park staff were appalled that the dispute had come so far. One gift shop assistant compared it to three-year-olds fighting.
Jack Whitcher, a retired doctor from San Francisco, said that it was “disgusting that a private company can trademark a name that belongs to the land and to the people”. He told The New York Times: “There’s one word for this: greed.”
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In June Delaware North, a hospitality and merchandising company, lost a contract that it had held since 1993 to operate hotels, restaurants and most tourist businesses throughout Yosemite. The contract was awarded to a subsidiary of Aramark, a rival concession business, whereupon Jeremy Jacobs, chairman of Delaware North demanded $51.2 million compensation for the park’s “intangible assets”, including trademarks.
Park officials say that they were not aware until 2014 that the company had registered the Yosemite National Park trademark 12 years earlier. A spokesman for Delaware North said that the company had done nothing illegal.