Tourism bureaus say slogan deal unusual

Thursday, July 7, 2005 | 11:20 a.m.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's transfer of the rights to the popular slogan "What happens here, stays here" was a highly unusual move, representatives of other major tourism bureaus around the country said.

They said their agencies retain trademarks or other forms of registration on advertising slogans and logos, rather than transferring those rights to their advertising companies. And the spokesmen and spokeswomen for the other major tourism bureaus said that if their organizations have to defend the slogans from alleged illegal use by others, they retain lawyers who specialize in trademark and intellectual property law instead of having an ad agency take on those legal battles.

As the Sun was the first to report last week, LVCVA President Rossi Ralenkotter took a different route in November. That's when he transferred the "What happens here" trademark rights -- including potential profits -- to the authority's ad agency, R&R Partners Inc. of Las Vegas, which originated the slogan. The effective date of the agreement was backdated to Jan. 1, 2004.

At the time of the agreement, which was not disclosed to the LVCVA board, R&R Partners had already filed a federal lawsuit against a California woman who used a similar slogan, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" on risque clothing.

The LVCVA board is expected to discuss the trademark transfer agreement at its regular meeting Tuesday.

Ralenkotter and R&R Chief Executive Billy Vassiliadis both have said that the purpose of the agreement was to help R&R defend the slogan in court rather than profit from it.

Ralenkotter did not return telephone calls Wednesday seeking comment on the fact that other tourism agencies retain rights over slogans and defend them on their own.

"I Love New York," for example, is the prized possession of the New York State Division of Tourism. It is arguably the nation's most recognized and successful tourism slogan -- the word 'Love' is normally represented by a heart.

The state retains the trademark to the slogan and has subcontracted with Curtis Management Group of Indianapolis to produce "I Love New York" merchandise. Curtis Management and the New York tourism agency split the profits from "I Love New York" merchandise.

The state also retains responsibility for defending the slogan from misuse.

"We work aggressively to protect it," tourism division spokeswoman Mary Ellen Walsh said. "We think it has a great deal of value and is one of the most recognized brands around the globe."

The Hawaii Tourism Authority, which relies on state funds, has no intention of giving away the rights to its popular slogan, "Hawaii, the Islands of Aloha."

"Our policy is that what we pay for in state money belongs to the state," Frank Haas, tourism marketing director for the Hawaii authority, said. "We freely license the slogan to travel companies because we want them to use it but we don't license it to other people for commercial purposes. The license is for a defined purpose and for a defined period of time.

"If somebody wanted to use it for commercial purposes, we would have to negotiate with them on how the revenue would be split."

R&R is being paid $65 million this year to market Las Vegas for the LVCVA. Most of what the LVCVA spends on marketing comes from hotel and motel room tax revenue.

R&R creates advertisements for television and print media. It also helps place the ads in American cities and in foreign countries that are thought to have the greatest chance of being receptive to Las Vegas as a tourist destination.

The agency first used the "What happens here" slogan as part of that marketing campaign in 2003.

Haas said his authority has not had to go to court to defend the Hawaii slogan but has sent warning letters to individuals who allegedly use the phrase without permission.

"Generally the people who do that are small-timers who don't realize what they're doing," Haas said.

The San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau has used several slogans over the years. Among them: "San Diego feels good all over," "Get some fun out of life" and "San Diego, where to be." All have been trademarked and protected by the bureau, spokesman Sal Giametta said.

"In any instance when we have had an issue with a trademark or logo, that is something we would handle," Giametta said. "This is something the bureau would be responsible for defending. We have an obligation to protect the trademarks. We would retain the counsel that we had used to file the registration."

The Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau in Florida has not encountered any legal problems with its slogan, "Orlando: You never outgrow it."

"If we see violations of our trademark, we would send out cease and desist letters and if they don't stop, we would turn things over to our intellectual property attorneys," bureau spokesman Rick Gregory said.

"Come Celebrate Our Dream" generated plenty of mileage for Atlanta when that city hosted the Summer Olympics in 1996. That slogan was devised on behalf of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, which retained the trademark and profited from merchandise bearing that phrase.

The bureau's latest slogan, "Big City, Southern Hospitality" is similarly protected.

"We handle the trademarks ourselves because our attorneys have a real good trademark department," Gregory Pierce, the bureau's chief financial officer, said. "It keeps all of our intellectual property in one spot.

"We'll let people use our logos if we think that it will be helpful to the city."

The slogan "Only in San Francisco" is the pride and joy of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau. But Diane DeRose, vice president of marketing for the bureau, said that if the slogan appeared on a souvenir such as a T-shirt sold by an entrepreneur, "I doubt I would go after them for that."

The reason, she said, is the free publicity.

"In all fairness to Las Vegas, the slogan, 'What happens here stays here,' is everywhere," DeRose said. "I don't have the money to get that kind of exposure but I wish I did."