When the WHHSH slogan really took off, LVCVA officials were ecstatic. Jay Leno told a joke invoking the phrase nearly every night in his monologue. Billy Crystal ripped off the phrase for a line in the Academy Awards telecast. TV sitcoms were using it as the punch line for some of their bits.

The advertising agency responsible for the phrase, R&R Partners, began hyping it as a cultural phenomenon and not just a flavor-of-the-month slogan. And the LVCVA began winning marketing awards - tons of them - for using it.

While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, LVCVA officials weren't flattered or amused when the imitators came out in force.

The most notorious of those was Dorothy Tovar of Placerville, Calif., who wanted to put the phrase "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" on underwear and sell it as souvenirs to tourists. A federal judge in Reno ultimately ruled in favor of the LVCVA that Tovar's use of the similar phrase violated the agency's right to the trademark slogan.

This week, in fact, the judge, Larry Hicks, was scheduled to consider the LVCVA's petition for damages, meaning that he would review how much money the LVCVA thinks Tovar should pay it for misappropriating the phrase. At press time, there was no indication whether Hicks would make any ruling or whether he would take the motion under advisement and announce a decision later.

Other cases have emerged on the phrase and it's gotten to the point where the LVCVA is going to have to consider how much money it wants to shell out to protect it.

So far, the LVCVA has moved to defend its intellectual property six times. That isn't just for WHHSH, but for some of the organization's other protected marks, such as the phrases "Only Vegas" and "We work as hard as we play."

Surreal Games, a software company that manufactures video games, got into trouble with the LVCVA for developing a game called "Only in Vegas." The LVCVA's legal team felt the preposition "in" made the game title too close to the "Only Vegas" phrase and they asked the game company to cease and desist.

The most recent trademark episode involved a woman wanting to use a form of the WHHSH phrase for hats, T-shirts and buttons she wanted to sell at the Kentucky Derby that said, "What happens at Derby stays at Derby."

The latest dust-up generated a philosophical discussion among board members with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the LVCVA's chairman, asking, in essence: How much are we willing to pay to protect what is arguably the most successful tourism marketing phrase in history?

Goodman started out with the premise that the use of the phrase on Kentucky Derby T-shirts wouldn't harm and may even be good for Las Vegas. But once other board members and the LVCVA's lawyer chimed in, the entire board was in agreement that it had to pursue action against the Derby shirts.

Some may see whole debate as silly. After all, who cares if some woman in California makes a few bucks at Las Vegas' expense? There probably are worse places for the Las Vegas name to appear than on someone's underwear.

And wouldn't it be a good thing for all those people going to the Kentucky Derby to subliminally think about Las Vegas when they see those Derby T-shirts?

But legal minds don't see it that way.

The LVCVA has spent $131 million to market the city with the WHHSH phrase. Is it right for someone to profit from the sale of souvenirs without having to pay something for that big investment?

But there are two other things that are even more troublesome to the lawyers who manage the LVCVA's trademarks. Would the public be confused about whether Las Vegas somehow endorses something using the WHHSH phrase? Does Las Vegas support the Kentucky Derby because our catch phrase is on a Derby T-shirt?

Even more troublesome is the precedent that ignoring a potential violation of a trademark could create. At last week's board meeting, Luke Puschnig, the LVCVA's lawyer, said the agency's failure to act in a case could be used against it in another case. In other words, if you don't do something about the Kentucky Derby T-shirts, you may have that used against you in the next time somebody tries it.

Which leads me to a question that occurred to me after I took my family to see "Spamalot."

The show at Wynn Las Vegas includes a Las Vegas wedding chapel ceremony and the show includes the line, "What happens at Camelot, stays at Camelot." There also are T-shirts in the gift shop that have "What happens at Spamalot ¦" on the front and " ¦ stays at Spamalot" on the back.

So will the LVCVA protect its trademark against the popular Wynn show? Incidentally, Wynn Las Vegas is represented on the LVCVA board of directors by Andrew Pascal, who is president of the Strip property.

A spokesman for the LVCVA told me he wasn't aware that Wynn is selling those T-shirts. Now that they know, what happens next?

There comes a time when government-funded groups have to consider at what cost do they discontinue any legal fight. The city of Las Vegas is wrestling with that issue on the right-turn controversy involving aircraft noise over Summerlin.

The question is likely to be asked even more as the legal bills climb on WHHSH.

Airline tickets ¦ a good deal? Airline expert Terry Trippler offered some research last week showing us just how good consumers have it when it comes to buying airline tickets.

Trippler, who is based in Minneapolis, researched how much airline tickets cost between 135 city pairs in 1982 and compared them to today's fares accounting for inflation according to the Consumer Price Index.

Of the 135 pairs, 98 fares were less than in 1982, two were the same and the rest were higher with 27 less than $50 more and eight more than $50 more.

Some of the Las Vegas stats: In 1982, there were three nonstop flights to Atlanta selling for $300 round trip or $639 in 2007 dollars. Today, there are 14 nonstop trips with the lowest fare being $228.

In 1982, there were six nonstop flights to Chicago with the lowest at $290 ($618 in today's dollars). Today, there are 32 nonstops with the lowest fare being $178.

In 1982, there were 14 nonstop flights to Denver with the lowest at $170 ($362 in today's dollars). Today, there are 28 nonstops with the lowest fare being $98.

In 1982, there were two nonstop flights to Minneapolis with the lowest at $258 ($549 in today's dollars). Today, there are 12 nonstops with the lowest fare being $198.

And, in 1982, there were five nonstop flights to Sacramento, Calif., with the lowest at $118 ($251 in today's dollars). Today, there are 13 nonstops with the lowest fare being $180.

Clearly the move to deregulate the airlines succeeded in lowering the cost of air travel so that more people could afford it. Air travel became so popular that it resulted in another series of problems - crowded flights (which results in more lost luggage and consumer complaints) and an overburdened air traffic control system.

It also explains how airlines continue to lose money when fuel costs and employee expenses climb.

NAB: The National Association of Broadcasters is in town this week, one of the largest annual conventions to which the city plays host.

This year's NAB was scheduled to bring 110,000 people to town, resulting in a nongaming economic impact of $176.4 million.