Judge rules in favor of new Freestyle Music Park owners, park to open on schedule Satuday

An injunction requested by the original owners of the former Hard Rock Park, who had sued the new owners for trademark infringement, was denied Friday by a federal judge, paving the way for the park, now called Freestyle Music Park, to reopen as planned on Saturday.

HRP Creative Services, a company formed by Steven Goodwin, the park's former CEO, and Jon Binkowski, its former creative officer, says the park's new owners did not do enough to rebrand and restyle the park and were still using intellectual property that belonged to HRP Creative Services.

FPI MB Entertainment, the park's new owners, denied they were using intellectual property owned by HRP Creative Services.

The lawsuit, filed April 24, is still pending. HRP Creative Services had asked the judge for a temporary injunction to be issued that would stop FPI MBE from using creative content in the park claimed by Goodwin and Binkowski while the case continued. Such an injunction could have threatened the park's planned reopening.

"HRP has failed to demonstrate that it will suffer harm," Judge Stewart Dalzell wrote. "By contrast, FPI's harm from a preliminary injunction would be catastrophic and probably fatal to the new park. Given the low to non-existent likelihood of public confusion, especially weighed against the indefinite layoffs of more than one thousand people in this difficult economy, the public interest heavily weights in favor of FPI."

He called HRP's claims "vaporous to preposterous." Elsewhere, Dalzell lambasted Goodwin for claiming intellectual property rights over replicas of historic architecture or artifacts.

"Without evident embarassment, [Goodwin] staked a claim of ownership on an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty, never mind that Frederic-Auguste Bartoldi, and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel built, the Bedloe's Island original of Liberty Enlightening the World," he wrote, referring to the original names for Liberty Island, where the statue is located, and for the work of art itself.

The $400 million park, which debuted in April 2008, filed for bankruptcy in September. FPI MBE bought the park out of bankruptcy for $25 million in February. The park has been called the largest investment in S.C. tourism ever.

Cherie Blackburn, an attorney for FPI MBE, said she was relieved at the judge's ruling.

"I felt really good when we left the hearing, but I understand having argued cases before judges and before juries that anything can happen," she said. "So I realize there was a worst-case scenario, but I really did not think a judge was going to grant an injunction under these circumstances."

Next on the agenda is a motion from FPI MBE to move the case from federal court in Delaware to federal court in South Carolina. She said she had no indication when such a ruling might take place, but noted that a court case usually takes 10 to 14 months to work its way through the system from the date it was filed.

Read the judge's full comments.

Read more on this story in Saturday's edition of The Sun News.

Comments

[Captain]

"vaporous to preposterous." he is right and should have thrown the case out. How 'intellectual' can it be to create a $400 mil failure in 3 months?

[Kurt]

I don't live in MB but as a nearby resident I have been following this saga for some time now. I am happy as hell to see the judges ruling and to read his comments. "Vaporous to preposterous" - ROFL!

But I feel too good to keep this to myself. Why don't we let Steven Goodwin and Jon Binkowski know how happy we are that their greedy little ploy just got the smackdown.

admin @ hrpusa.com

Hope the park has a huge opening - will be a couple of months before I can visit it myself.

[Anne Miller]

Thank you, Judge! I agree the case should have been thrown out! Goodwin--will you stop already and leave town for good and leave us alone!

[CharlieJ]

You would think that Godwin would want the park to succeed somehow -- especially after being a $400 million bankruptcy in just 4 months. Who would hire HRP Creative Svcs to do ANYTHING after that?

[MagicMixR]

Steve Goodwin is an absolute IDIOT.

[Cara]

screw Bonita Lloyd too, she was just as much a part of this debacle as Jon and Steven.

[Oscar_G_Rouch]

The judge did the right thing. How can these previous owners claim intellectual property rights for something that was a complete and utter failure. Why would the new & experienced theme park operators even WANT to steal their ideas? The new guys have a proven record, having spent many years managing some of our nation's finest and most successful theme parks. They bought the park fair & square. They've hired a lot of people. Summer is here. Families are on their way. Let them get to work.

[ttom]

That's one for the GOOD GUYS ! Finally!

[Sandlizzard]

Now, can we get the judge to ban Atlantic Beach fest attendees from entering the city limits of Myrtle Beach. To me it is a hardship on the residents and tourist to have to put up with 100,000 bikers.

What goes on in Atlantic Beach should stay in Atlantic beach.

[Marc Cherney]

That roller coaster looks line fun! But you better hold onto your cell phone in case you lose it!

[Why]

So who is the bigger bunch of sour grapes whiners?
The Harley Rally people or the previous owners of the Hard Rock Park?

[Chris]

Great news for the new owners and the hundreds who were fortunate to get jobs.