Steamboat and Salt Lake City Settle “Ski City” Case
SLC will revise marketing campaign
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More than a month after Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Visit Salt Lake for branding the Utah capital as “Ski City, USA,” the two sides have settled out of court.
Salt Lake City’s tourism bureau began its “Ski City” marketing campaign in September; Steamboat—which has been using “Ski Town, USA” since 1959 and holds the trademark on the name—brought its complaint to the Federal District Court for the District of Colorado in early October. Steamboat contended in a statement that the similarity between the two names “creates confusion and tries to take advantage of our registered trademark for [Salt Lake’s] own commercial purposes.” The Colorado ski destination also named Salt Lake–area Alta, Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird resorts in the complaint.
Late last week, Steamboat announced that it reached a settlement with Visit Salt Lake. As part of the agreement, Steamboat will drop its case, and Visit Salt Lake will tweak its advertising campaign. Other details have been kept confidential.
“Visit Salt Lake recognizes that towns like Steamboat Springs are iconic in what they offer to winter enthusiasts and is pleased to reach an agreement on this matter to further distinguish these two locations,” Scott Beck, president and CEO of Visit Salt Lake, said in the statement.