Despite repeated assurances that Neverland Ranch would not become an attraction, Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. LLP, the entity that owns the property, applied for and later abandoned trademarks on the name Neverland.

A record list display from the United States Patent and Trademark Office website shows that Sycamore Valley Ranch applied for trademarks on the terms “Neverland,” “Neverland Ranch,” “Neverland Valley,” and “Neverland Valley Ranch” on Aug. 12, well after it promised no commercial development on the site. There were 20 forms of trademark use of the Neverland terms, but all were abandoned on Sept. 8.

“It is very disappointing that they continue to offer words that are comforting, and then take actions which are not,” said Never! member Bob Field in an email. “It does not help that when asked about the actions, they say ‘No comment,’ We think the community deserves better.”

 

Since Michael Jackson’s death in June, some Valley citizens have been concerned about what Barrack will do with the property. The idea of a “Graceland West” concerned some of them enough to form the community action group Never! “ … with the sole mission of opposing any attempt to convert Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch into a commercial venue or Graceland-like tourist attraction.”

Goods and services descriptions of the terms included in the trademark applications included entertainment services, providing facilitates for business meetings and conferences, games and play things, clothing, footwear, headgear and printed matter. Each description presented examples of various uses.

Under entertainment services, the description read: “ … museum services — namely, operating a museum in Michael Jackson’s former home and providing tours thereof; providing theme park services; entertainment services, namely, live shows and events; tennis and golf resort services; recreation and sporting club services; organization of meetings and conferences.”

 

The goods and services described for games and play things included, “ … namely, plush toys, paper dolls, dolls and accessories, toy action figures, toy vehicles, toy cars, toy trucks, toy bucket and shovel sets, roller skates, toy model hobbycraft kits, toy rockets, wind-up toys, toy guns, toy holsters, musical toys, jigsaw puzzles, badminton sets, bubble making wand and solution sets, toy banks, puppets, toy balloons, yo-yo’s, kites, baseball bats, balls of all kind; play wands, board games, playing cards, and children’s games to play during travel; ornaments, and decorations for a Christmas tree; sporting goods.”

Cynthia Lynch, administrator for trademark policy and procedure, said these trademarks were expressly abandoned by the applicant, though there are still some live applications for Neverland-related trademarks by other companies.

The applications by Sycamore Valley Ranch are dead, Lynch said, and they cannot become live again. It is a closed issue. She said an entity does have some common law rights to a term if they use it, but there are further benefits of federal trademark status. 

 

“You get some additional benefits and legal presumptions from federal registration,” Lynch said.

Tom Barrack, CEO of Colony Capital, held some special meetings for prominent county and Valley officials and leaders July 9 and 10, in which he promised the property would not be turned into any type of attraction. Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. then submitted applications for trademarks in August.

Though Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. is a partnership involving Colony Capital, both entities share the same address in Los Angeles. Lisa Baker, a member of Owen Blicksilver, the PR firm representing Colony, said Colony had no comment on the trademark attempts.

 

lauren@syvjournal.com