Judge Made Right Decision on HRP Injunction Request
Say what you will about Steve Goodwin and Jon Binkowski, their attempt at making Hard Rock Park a viable venture in this market, or their latest efforts to protect intellectual property rights that include today's decision by a federal judge to deny a temporary injunction that may have threatened Freestyle Music Park's opening tomorrow.
Whether you agree or disagree with the premise behind it, Goodwin and Binkowski have every right to pursue legal action. But given the circumstances outlined in Judge Stewart Dalzell's ruling, the court made the right decision.
"HRP has failed to demonstrate that it will suffer harm," 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."
As reported in the Sun News piece, HRP Creative Services filed the injunction in an attempt to prevent Freestyle's owners, FPI MB Entertainment, from using creative content claimed by HRP while the lawsuit HRP filed April 24 was still pending. In his ruling, Dalzell went so far as to label HRP's related claim of suffering harm "vaporous to preposterous."
In the span of one year, the Myrtle Beach tourism market has been on a roller-coaster ride of its own with the fortunes of this $400-million attraction - "The sky's the limit" dreams brought by a glitzy brand and legendary band performers ... followed months later by a bankruptcy filing and the prospect of high-tech infrastructure being sold off for scrap metal ... followed by new owners and renewed hope, at a juncture where all hope for this park's survival seemed lost.
The impact on FPI aside, imperiling Saturday's opening would have been more than this market should have to endure. Now's not the time to put 1,000 jobs at risk. And in tough economic times, the last thing any tourism destination needs is out-of-market perception of another black eye.
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