Listed under M: “Marconi. Beach, surf site, Kahuku, Oʻahu. Calcareous sand beach between Kalaeokaunaʻoa, or Kahuku Point, and Kalaeuila, or High Rock. The beach and the surf site were named after the small community immediately inland. The American Marconi Company set up wireless operations in Hawaiʻi in 1902 and built their transpacific receiving station here at Kahuku in 1915. Since then, the community that developed around the station has been known as Marconi. The beach is also known as Hanakaʻīlio Beach.”
That’s from the book, “Hawaiʻi Place Names: Shores, Beaches and Surf Sites,” by John R.K. Clark, published by University of Hawaiʻi press in 2002.
So according to Clark, the area adjacent to the Turtle Bay golf course that includes the Marconi Point Condominiums has been known as Marconi for more than a century.
But the right to the name “Marconi,” as it relates to the region, is now being disputed.
The growing concern among community members troubled by the impacts that the property’s development have had on environmental and cultural resources culminated in the creation in January of a group calling itself the Mālama Marconi Coalition.
In addition to social media posts, the group sent a letter to the City & County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting calling for the removal of an iron fence around one of the condo units that was interfering with nesting Laysan albatross, a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It also called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate the death last December of a Laysan albatross that had become entangled in that fence.
Then something strange happened.
On January 25, Makai Ranch, LLC, which created the Marconi Point Condominiums project more than a decade ago, registered the trade names Mālama Marconi and Mālama Marconi Coalition with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
The original Mālama Marconi Coalition states on its Facebook page that it is “a network of community organizations and individuals advocating for the full enforcement all laws protecting the natural, cultural, historic resources, native ecosystems, and wildlife at ‘Marconi RCA’ properties and coastline.”
The nature of the Mālama Marconi Coalition as registered by Makai Ranch, however, is “supporting conservation, protection of wildlife, clean energy, agriculture, and historic preservation at Marconi Point Condominiums.”
The difference between the two mission statements could confuse the public, argued the Center for Biological Diversity in a press release issued March 14. The center is a member of the original Mālama Marconi Coalition.
The release also noted that in addition to registering the trade names, Makai Ranch “reserved certain domain names for URLs containing the names ‘Mālama Marconi Coalition’ and ‘Mālama Marconi’ — possibly to prevent the association from continuing its public interest advocacy.”
In response to the DCCA registrations and URL reservations, the group filed a petition last month with the DCCA “to protect their coalition’s original name from being hijacked by developers.”
“This back-door maneuver to snag our name looks like a slimy and under-handed attempt to divert the public outrage over environmental and cultural destruction at Marconi,” Maxx Phillips, Hawai‘i director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, stated in the press release.
On February 17, “to ensure the association could continue its mission of advocacy,” the group registered a new name with the DCCA: Aloha Marconi Alliance (as well as Aloha Marconi).
The association said it would use these new names until their petition with the DCCA is resolved.
“We won’t tolerate the lack of aloha for our concerned community, native species and their ecosystems,” Conservation Council for Hawai’i executive director Jonee Peters stated in the release. “This motivates us all to work even harder to stop the destruction of wildlife habitat and native species.”
When asked for a response to the allegations of name-squatting, Makai Ranch’s attorney, Ross Uehara-Tilton, conceded that that’s exactly what was going on. However, he argued that it was done to prevent confusion, not cause it.
He argued that Makai Ranch owns the trade name/trade mark “Marconi” when used in relation to the specific area of Kahuku. (To support this, he refers to a statement on the DCCA’s website, which states, “Ownership of a trade name is acquired by using the name openly and continuously in the marketplace. Many trade names in Hawaiʻi are not registered with the State. Nonetheless, by using those names in commerce, common law ownership rights are acquired.”)
“’Marconi’ and/or ‘Marconi Point’ are not the historical names of this geographic region. The name ‘Marconi Point’ only came into use as a descriptor when Makai Ranch created the condominium property regime known as ‘Marconi Point Condominiums,’” Uehara-Tilton explained in an email.
“I am not an expert in Hawaiian history, but I believe the area was formerly known as Punamano for the nearby Punamano Marsh and the Punamano Spring.In any case, no one has used ‘Marconi’ to describe this region, until Makai Ranch,” he continued.
“We believe the individuals behind ‘Mālama Marconi’ and the ‘Mālama Marconi Coalition’ are improperly infringing upon the Marconi trade name, and their use of the name causes confusion to the public. The public might otherwise believe that Makai Ranch or the project are affiliated with ‘Mālama Marconi’ and the ‘Mālama Marconi Coalition,’ when they are not. These groups have published false and misleading information about the Marconi Point Condominiums, Makai Ranch, and affiliated entities, causing damage to Makai Ranch’s reputation,” he wrote.
Uehara-Tilton was referring, in part, to statements suggesting that Makai Ranch had anything to do with the Laysan albatross death or was somehow involved in any illegal land clearing.
“Makai Ranch was the original developer of the project, but the units have largely been sold to third parties. Makai Ranch is not responsible for the alleged environmental and cultural destruction. … Makai Ranch does not object to environmental and cultural advocacy, but is only trying to protect against the spread of false information. …
“Makai Ranch registered the trade names intending to protect its intellectual property and contest use of the Marconi trade name by these other groups. Registration was the first step to pursue these claims,” he wrote.
He added, “We do have concerns about the ‘Aloha Marconi Alliance; for the same reasons, but we probably need to wait for the outcome of the petition for ‘Mālama Marconi Coalition’ before deciding whether to try to contest ‘Aloha Marconi Alliance.’”
Uehara-Tilton did say that if presented with documentation or information that the region had long been referred to as Marconi (before Makai Ranch came along), “This kind of information might cause us to change our position.”
When presented with screen shots from Clark’s book on place names, Uehara-Tilton called it “helpful,” but did not go further.
— Teresa Dawson
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