North Carolina furniture firm seeks “Park City” trademark

A North Carolina firm wants to secure a federal trademark on the name “Park City” as it applies to furniture, an application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office that has received little publicity even after an earlier trademark application involving the name of the community by Park City Mountain Resort owner Vail Resorts spurred widespread opposition.

Lexington Furniture Industries, Inc., which conducts business as Lexington Home Brands, filed the application last summer and there has been limited movement since then. The Patent and Trademark Office process is sometimes lengthy with periods of inaction. The Thomasville, North Carolina, firm’s application indicates the trademark is sought exclusively for furniture, meaning the application is narrow in scope.

The Patent and Trademark Office in October indicated in a letter to Lexington Furniture Industries, Inc. the firm must submit additional information about the name “Park City” and the relationship to the community.

“Applicant must provide a written statement explaining whether the goods are manufactured, packaged, shipped from, sold in or in close proximity to, or have any other connection (such as a corporate headquarters or original first store) with the geographic location named in the mark,” the letter from the Patent and Trademark Office said.

The letter added: “Applicant must also answer the following: What, if any, connection does Park City mean as used in applicant’s mark?”

Lexington Home Brands offers a series of lines named after places. The website lists names like “Oyster Bay,” “Laurel Canyon,” “Bal Harbour” and “Longboat Key.” The Barclay Butera lines are also listed as under the corporate umbrella of Lexington Home Brands. They include names like “Malibu,” “Newport” and “Brentwood.” There is a Barclay Butera-branded store in Park City just off Main Street.

An executive with Lexington Home Brands has declined to comment about the trademark application, indicating the firm does not make public statements about topics like the application and that business plans are proprietary. The executive also noted Lexington Furniture Industries, Inc. is privately held.

The Lexington Furniture Industries, Inc. application for a “Park City” trademark follows four years after a polarizing trademark bid by Vail Resorts for the same name. The Colorado-based firm wanted to secure a “Park City” trademark as it relates to a mountain resort. The application was condemned in the community as a broad swath of Parkites and businesses, as well as the municipal government, worried about a corporation like Vail Resorts holding a trademark on the name “Park City.” Vail Resorts argued the trademark application was narrowly crafted and it would not pursue cases against other businesses with the name of the community in their moniker. It also argued at the time it wanted to guard against another operator of a ski area using the name “Park City.”

Vail Resorts scrapped the trademark efforts as the opposition mounted, including a large rally outside the Marsac Building while City Hall officials and a Vail Resorts team met inside. The Vail Resorts dispute influenced a series of businesses with the name “Park City” as part of their own monikers to seek trademarks.

Source：www.parkrecord.com

Author：Jay Hamburger

Editor：Vapor