Boat show shows what’s in a name

June Casagrande

Organizers of two local boat shows on Tuesday were awaiting details

of an injunction a judge was considering against the Newport Dunes

regarding use of the name “Newport Beach Boat Show.”

Duncan Macintosh, longtime producer of two annual boat shows in

the city, filed the suit, saying that the name is too similar to “the

Newport Boat Show” that he held at the Dunes for 10 years.

Macintosh said he had planned to hold his annual spring show at

the Dunes from April 28 to May 2 and that he believed the Dunes had

agreed to the arrangement. But then, he said, Dunes operators

informed him that they would instead host a boat show by the Southern

California Marine Assn. on those same dates.

Macintosh filed suit and arranged to move his annual spring show

to Lido Marina, which is where he holds his fall show each year. His

show in Lido will now take place two weeks before the Dunes show.

Dunes manager Andrew Theodorou said he was awaiting the judge’s

decision before commenting on the case.

The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

A representative of Orange Coast Yachts, one of the city’s largest

dealers of new and used boats, said that boat shows play a important

role in the business.

“The boat shows help year round because people come to the shows

to see boats and that’s where they get ideas,” Morrie Kirk of Orange

Coast Yachts said. “Sometimes they buy at the shows but often they

come back later on.”

Orange Coast Yachts will have 15 boats in this year’s Lido show,

Kirk said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.