The National Park Service is asking a major concessionaire to stop trying to trademark names of the best-known properties at the Grand Canyon. This comes after the park service issued a new, 15-year proposal for services at the park.
Names like Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Lodge and El Tovar should belong to the National Park Service. At least that’s what the agency said in the recently issued proposal for a new contract. Xanterra Parks and Resorts has been operating at the park for decades. Late last year, it filed trademark applications for roughly 20 names of historic lodges and other properties.
It’s not known if Xanterra will bid on the new contract proposal, which would run until 2015. But the Park Service has had a hard time attracting any other bidders. That’s mostly because of tens of millions of dollars still owed to Xanterra to pay for improvements at the park.
