The widow of a longtime Owasco marina operator has lost her lawsuit claiming another business stole a trade name.

In an Aug. 6 decision in state Supreme Court in Cayuga County, Judge Kenneth Fisher ruled the defendants in the case had the rights to the name Owasco Marine.

Roseanne Stott late last year sued Owasco Marine Inc., its president Dennis Meegan, and Auburn Marine Sales & Service, Inc., and its principals David Wasileski and William Newcomb, alleging they did not have the right to the name Owasco Marine because it was part of the estate of her husband, Kevin Stott, who died in 2005.

The naming rights issue dates back to 1987, when Owasco Marine Inc. leased a marine sales and service business in Owasco on five acres at 7017 Owasco Road to Robert E. Shutter, Thomas C. Donovan and John Grover.

The agreement also allowed the use of the name “Owasco Marine” to maintain franchises and licenses, with an option to purchase and use the name in the marine sales and service business.

The agreement states that the “purchase price shall include all equipment, including yard trailers, utilized by the tenant during the term of the lease.” But it does not mention transfer of the trade name.

In June 1990, Kevin Stott and Thomas Donovan purchased the business for $250,000, with one third of rental already paid applied to the purchase price. In 1999, Donovan transferred his share to Kevin Stott, who operated the business until his death, continuing to use the trade name Owasco Marine.

Meegan's attorney, Tom Blair, said one of the reasons for licensing the name over the years was to allow Stott to retain his status in a regional boat trade show. Under the Boating Industries Association of Central New York, businesses are on a point system each time their name is entered in a trade show, allowing them prime locations for more points accumulated. But the Stotts had not used the name at the show for a couple of years.

“The by-laws of BIA say, if you don't use it, you lose it,” Blair said, meaning that accumulated points would be lost.

In April 2007, Meegan had a “cease and desist” order served, asking Roseanne Stott to stop using the name, indicating that her husband had only a temporary license to use the name, and upon his death it went back to its original owner.

Roseanne Stott signed a waiver form to surrender the use of the name to Meegan and Owasco Marine Inc. After the waiver was signed, Auburn Marine's Bill Newcomb and David Wasileski began doing business as Owasco Marine in July 2007.

Auburn Marine had been negotiating with Owasco Marine Inc. to lease 10 acres north of the Stott property, Blair said, and along with that lease went the name.

Stott alleged that Meegan had fraudulently presented a release that she signed to stop using the name and that she had no capacity to execute the release. Her lawsuit asked to have the release rescinded and the name given back to her. She also alleged intentional harm on behalf of the defendants and that use of “Owasco Marine” created contractual interference, business problems and unfair competition.

Her lawyer, Thomas O'Bryan, maintained that she needed the recognition to rebuild her business.

The court ruled that the original lease defined the extent to which the trade name “Owasco Marine” could be used, never mentioning the name transfer as being part of the purchase of the parcel owned by Kevin Stott.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net