Shows different, names are, too

June Casagrande

A boat show at the Newport Dunes will have to change its name for

now, but the show will go on, a federal judge has decided.

Local boat show promoter Duncan McIntosh won a preliminary

injunction against the Newport Dunes Resort and Marina and the

Southern California Marine Assn. to stop them from calling their

upcoming show the “Newport Beach Boat Show.” However, the judge did

not grant requests to stop the show.

McIntosh believes, and Judge Alicemarie Stotler of the U.S.

District Court in Santa Ana seemed to affirm, that the name is too

similar to the “Newport Boat Show,” which McIntosh has put on at the

Dunes for the last 10 years.

“The names are similar to the point of being confusing, so the

public wouldn’t know whether it’s a different show or not,” McIntosh

said. “I feel they’re taking advantage of our 30 years of putting on

boat shows and building a reputation in Newport Beach.”

The show will now be called SCMA’s 2004 Boat Show at the Dunes in

Newport Beach.

McIntosh’s contract with the Dunes expired this year and he said

he believed he had an agreement with the Dunes to put on his spring

boat show from April 28 to May 2 this year. Instead, the Dunes

ultimately agreed to allow the Southern California Marine Assn. to

hold a boat show on those dates. McIntosh found a space for his show

at the Lido Marina, where he holds his fall show every year, and set

the dates for April 14 to 18.

An attorney representing the Dunes said she considered it a

favorable outcome for the Dunes and the association because the judge

denied requests to stop the show.

“It’s always been my impression that although the McIntosh

organization couched its complaint in terms of service marks and

names, what they were really complaining about is the fact that the

SCMA wanted to hold a boat show at Dunes this spring,” said Khym

Penfil, a partner at the firm of Call, Jensen & Ferrell.

The injunction is temporary, pending a formal ruling by the judge.

No court date has been set. But it’s possible that, after a first

year of operating under the SCMA boat show name, operators may not

want to change names next year.

* 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.