The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on Tuesday retained a prominent international law firm to investigate the tourism authority's trademark and intellectual property policies following reports in the Sun about a previously secret deal involving the "What happens here, stays here" slogan.
The board hired the law firm of Morrison & Foerster for an undisclosed sum and also announced that the firm would represent the tourism authority should the LVCVA join advertising agency R&R Partners Inc. of Las Vegas as a plaintiff in a trademark infringement lawsuit against a California clothier.
Meeting before a standing room-only crowd of more than 100 in the Las Vegas Convention Center board room, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the board's chairman, said the LVCVA would hold a public meeting to discuss the law firm's investigative report when it is completed. A timetable for completion has not yet been determined.
"There will be full exposition in due course," Goodman said. "There will be a full airing of all the issues and it will all be done publicly so that the public will have confidence in this authority and its decision-makers."
Goodman said he and another board member, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, flew to San Francisco last week to meet with members of the law firm.
Last month, the Sun was the first to report on a trademark transfer agreement that LVCVA President Rossi Ralenkotter signed over in November to R&R Chief Executive Billy Vassiliadis. The agreement was signed the same day the board gave Ralenkotter the authority to transfer intellectual property rights but the agreement itself was inked without the board's knowledge.
The agreement gives R&R the rights to any profit or damage awards from litigation involving the popular "What happens here" slogan. The slogan, first used in 2003, was devised by R&R as part of its advertising contract with the LVCVA. The LVCVA pays for that work mostly through hotel and motel room tax revenue.
Whether that agreement represents sound public policy will be a major focus of the law firm's investigation, Goodman said.
"We want to get this resolved quickly," Goodman said. "We want to know what the facts are. We want the public to know the facts."
Asked for comment after the meeting, Vassiliadis said: "It's great. Wonderful."
And Ralenkotter said: "We've been given legal direction by our attorneys not to comment."
Ralenkotter and Vassiliadis both have said that the agreement was not done for profit but to give R&R better standing to defend the slogan in court.
R&R filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in March 2004 in U.S. District Court in Reno against clothier Dorothy Tovar of Placerville, Calif. Tovar, who used the slogan "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" on risque clothing, has filed counter-motions challenging R&R's standing to bring the lawsuit.
R&R filed a motion in May to add the LVCVA as a plaintiff in the case, though a ruling has not been made on that request. The case is in the middle of a lengthy discovery phase and a trial date has not been set.
Another issue Morrison & Foerster will address is whether the LVCVA should be retaining and defending its own trademarks -- as other major tourism bureaus around the country typically do -- instead of transferring them to R&R, Goodman said.
Goodman, the only board member who spoke on the issue Tuesday, said that the law firm advised the board not to issue further comment on the trademark transfer agreement because of the pending litigation. Goodman, in turn, said that he advised Ralenkotter and Vassiliadis to withhold further comment as well, even though both signatories to the agreement were prepared to address the board.
But Goodman said if it comes down to being forced to either giving up on the lawsuit against Tovar or resolving the trademark transfer, he is "leaning toward a resolution."
Two of the law firm's partners, Zane Gresham and Douglas Hendricks, attended the board meeting. Gresham said his firm was mindful of the LVCVA board's role to "protect the public interest" while reiterating the firm's belief that board members should refrain from further comment.
Morrison & Foerster charges $215 to $675 an hour, according to a survey last year by the publication Corporate Counsel, a monthly magazine published by New York-based ALM, a company that publishes law journals throughout the United States.
The law firm, according to its Web site, has more than 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices worldwide. It boasts one of the world's largest intellectual property divisions, staffed by more than 300 lawyers. Goodman said the law firm was retained because it has no ties to Las Vegas.
Morrison & Foerster clients include Apple, Bank of America Corp., The Clorox Company, Hershey Foods Corp., Lucasfilm Ltd., Nextel Communications Inc., Oracle Corp., Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Diego Regional County Airport Authority, San Francisco International Airport and United Parcel Service Inc.
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