LVCVA regains control of popular slogan

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 | 7:34 a.m.

The exclusive right to use the popular tourism slogan "What happens here, stays here" was put back into the hands of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on Tuesday.

So, too, was the exclusive right to profit from the slogan, which has become part of the nation's vernacular.

The LVCVA gave away those rights to its advertising agency, R&R Partners Inc. of Las Vegas, in a trademark transfer agreement last November between authority President Rossi Ralenkotter and R&R Chief Executive Billy Vassiliadis.

Both said the purpose of the agreement was to put R&R in a better position to defend the slogan in a trademark infringement lawsuit that the ad agency filed in March 2004 against clothier Dorothy Tovar of Placerville, Calif.

The LVCVA has since joined R&R as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which challenges Tovar's use of the slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," on a line of clothing sold at Las Vegas Strip resorts.

After the Sun reported on the secret agreement earlier this year -- an agreement signed without the authority board's knowledge -- LVCVA hired international law firm Morrison & Foerster to review the authority's trademark policies and to defend the authority in court.

One of the law firm's recommendations, adopted Tuesday by the board, was to amend the trademark transfer agreement so that R&R would retain ownership of the "What happens here" mark but give the LVCVA exclusive right to use and sublicense the slogan for any goods and services.

Doug Hendricks, a partner in the law firm, said the amended agreement means that only the authority can profit from the slogan. R&R devised the slogan for the authority as part of a tourism marketing campaign that was paid for mostly through revenue from hotel and motel room taxes.

"R&R can't profit from any license," Hendricks said of the amendment.

The board also adopted other recommendations from the law firm that will require the authority to retain ownership of all future trademarks; give the authority's legal counsel independence from the president by reporting directly to the board chairman under certain circumstances; and clarify LVCVA policies on the purchase of goods and services and the acquisition of property.

"This is a radical change because we're codifying the way we do business instead of the good old boy way of doing business," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, board chairman, said after the meeting. "Now, it will all be in black and white."

Steve Kanigher can be reached at 259-4075 or at steve@lasvegassun.com.