Portland Loo
When Portland commissioned the design of the loos, it retained the intellectual property rights to the design, and would receive a royalty from the manufacturer, for each loo it sold. Press reports described this arrangement as a source of funds, for the city.
However, in 2014, a citizen group sued the city, asserting the city had spent over $600,000 to promote the loos, without proper authorization. As a consequence the design was sold to Madden, the manufacturer.
Portland Aquarium
The Portland Aquarium is a limited liability company whose current members are Crystal Covino, David Rowe and Shane Shimada. The founding owners, in 2012, were brothers Vince and Ammon Covino, and Marc Gottlieb of Boise, ID. Vince and Ammon Covino also were involved in starting the Idaho Aquarium in Boise and the Austin Aquarium in Texas. The Idaho Aquarium has since been taken over by a new director and new board members, in response to legal problems and controversies involving Ammon Covino and his co-founder, Chris Conk.