MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - Las Vegas businessman David E. Lipson, who owns the Resort at Paws Up in the Blackfoot Valley, is close to obtaining four commercial trademarks for use of the phrase "The Last Best Place."

The applications have been approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and issued notices of allowance, meaning once Lipson submits proof he's using the words as he says in his applications, he owns the trademark. He has six months to offer the proof or request an extension.

The four trademarks cover a broad array of commercial uses, giving Lipson exclusive rights to use "The Last Best Place" to sell everything from meat and cookware to clothing and jewelry.

"The Last Best Place" is a well-known Montana slogan first popularized as the title of a 1988 anthology co-edited by Missoula writers William Kittredge and Annick Smith. In the years since, it has seen unrestrained commercial use.

In all, Lipson is seeking to register a total of eight trademarks for "The Last Best Place" through a company called The Last Best Beef LLC, which Lipson owns through another of his businesses, DEL Investments Corp.

The trademarks can be applied to more than 100 products and services, including lingerie, baseball caps, shower curtains, blankets and real estate, restaurant and retail store services.

While his applications for four of the trademarks have been suspended for the moment, Lipson has already successfully registered "The Last Best Water" trademark for bottled water and continues to hold a trademark to "The Last Best Place Catalog," which he purchased from the Monterey Bay Clothing Co. of California in 2003.

In the past few months, Lipson has also filed a trademark application for "The Last Best Bed," which would cover hotel and resort lodging services.

When former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., learned of Lipson's efforts to trademark "The Last Best Place," he inserted a provision into the 2006 Department of Commerce Appropriations Act that effectively cut off the funding needed to process Lipson's applications. The act was signed into law by President Bush, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suspended all action on "The Last Best Place" trademarks.

In response, Lipson's Last Best Beef Co. filed a civil lawsuit against the director of the trademark office and the trademark commissioner.

A court in the District of Eastern Virginia ruled that a single sentence in an appropriations act cannot override an entire body of well-established trademark law.

That ruling has been appealed, but a final decision could be many months away.

The Montana Department of Commerce will wait for the court's decision before making its next move, said Bob Griffin, the Billings attorney retained to file oppositions to two "The Last Best Place" trademarks covering retail store services and real estate and land development.

Only two of the trademarks were opposed because the window to oppose the other six trademarks closed before the department learned about them, Griffin explained.

The trademark office lists 42 possible classes of goods and services to which a trademark can be applied.

If the courts uphold the ruling in favor of Lipson, the trademarks will likely be registered to Lipson and the Department of Commerce will have to decide how to proceed. One possibility would be filing a lawsuit seeking to have the registrations canceled.

"Basically, the phrase belongs to the people of Montana, and that's always been the Department of Commerce's position," Griffin said.

Lipson did not return messages the Missoulian left for him at Paws Up. The Washington, D.C., attorney representing Lipson in the federal court case also did not return messages, and an employee at Paws Up's public relations firm said the company was not at liberty to discuss the trademark issue.

However, Lipson has repeatedly stated in interviews and through news releases that he is not trying to stop other individuals and businesses from using the phrase "The Last Best Place."

Missoula trademark lawyer Shane Vannatta is suspicious of that statement. He said there is no point in putting time and money toward registering a trademark if you have no intention of defending it from others' use, he said.

"You don't get a trademark registration just to hang on the wall," he said.

Vannatta said he hopes the case highlights the need for people to "do a quick inventory of their intellectual rights."