Las Vegas Business Press : LVCVA Hires Law Firm to Eye Slogan Deal

LVCVA Hires Law Firm to Eye Slogan Deal

By Steven Mihailovich
Business Press

An independent investigation headed by a San Francisco law firm will examine a $1 deal that saw the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority sell the rights to its popular slogan -- "What Happens Here, Stays Here." The San Francisco-based law firm of Morrison and Foerster, a trademark specialist, was hired by the LVCVA's 13-member board to review the arrangement between the LVCVA and its advertising firm, R&R Partners.

The transaction came to light in recent weeks following a series of news stories detailing the transaction spearheaded by LVCVA President and Chief Executive Officer Rossi Ralenkotter, and R&R Chief Executive Officer Billy Vassiliadis. It was completed after the board gave Ralenkotter greater deal-making authority.

Recent publicity about the sale has raised the ire of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, among others, both of whom serve on the LVCVA board.

Ralenkotter and Vassiliadis have said the deal was struck to protect the trademarked slogan from infringement by a clothing company owned by a California woman. A recent lawsuit charges that a company owned by Dorothy Tovar was producing T-shirts and other clothing emblazoned with a variation of the slogan. The shirts read: "Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".

In March, R&R Partners filed suit against Tovar in U.S District Court in Reno. The LVCVA is seeking to join the lawsuit and is represented by Morrison and Foerster.

LVCVA officials and Vassiliadis, whose firm has had the lucrative LVCVA advertising account since the early 1980s, said they would not comment on the independent inquiry or the tagline transfer until the lawsuit is resolved.

Vassiliadis described as "ridiculous" a reporter's suggestion that owning the slogan would make it more difficult for the LVCVA to potentially drop the agency. In 2003, he had told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the authority could cancel its contract with R&R on 30 days notice.

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