CHEYENNE - National Park Reservations Inc. failed to show it will suffer irreparable harm unless the exclusive concessioner for Yellowstone National Park is forced to continue to accept its reservations, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Alan Johnson rejected National Park Reservations (NPR) petition for a preliminary injunction against Xanterra Parks and Resorts, Inc., the Yellowstone concessioner.

The judge found that, contrary to NPR's contention, the company will still be able to do business at all national parks where Xanterra does not have the exclusive concessions contract on its Internet website.

"It may be required to direct customers to facilities and services in the gateway communities, but it will be able to continue to do business," Johnson wrote.

Moreover, his order said that Xanterra has agreed to accept the reservations NPR already made for customers.

Xanterra notified NPR chief executive officer Stephen Brashear on April 11, 2003, that it would no longer accept reservations from his company because of customer complaints.

The cutoff was scheduled to begin May 1 but was delayed because of NPR's lawsuit.

During a hearing on May 22, Xanterra attorney Bradley Cave of Cheyenne, said NPR misleads clients into thinking they are dealing with an official National Park Service entity and have a reservation approved by the federal government.

He said that customers complained when NPR failed to make reservations they requested or reserved the wrong type of room. Some complained they were not fully advised that NPR charges a non-refundable fee of 10 percent of total lodging costs for the reservation service.

NPR, headquartered in Big Lodge, Mont., accepts reservations through its Web site.

Brashear testified that his three-year-old company would lose 61 percent of its business and would be forced to lay off most of its 20 employees if it cannot make reservations within Yellowstone.

Johnson's order noted ample reasons for Xanterra to quit dealing with NPR.

The order noted that Brad Harbach, assistant director of reservations and sales of Xanterra in Yellowstone, testified that 68 percent of lodging nights in Yellowstone that were booked by travel agents, were booked by NPR.

NPR cancels 39.4 percent of the rooms it books. Of the 400 room nights booked through travel agents that were "no shows," 83 percent were made by NPR, the order said.

NPR claims that Xanterra's refusal to deal with the company constitutes a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

But Johnson found that Xanterra does not have a monopoly. Its rates are controlled by the Secretary of the Interior and plenty of competition is available in lodgings in gateway communities and within Grand Teton National Park, he wrote.

Since NPR is unlikely to win the monopoly argument at trial, a preliminary injunction cannot be issued on that basis, either.

Johnson referred the case to the magistrate judge for an initial pretrial conference.