Acquisition by Standard Oil of California
In 1961, Kyso was acquired by Standard Oil of California, effectively pushing Esso out of the former Kyso territory.[1] Esso began marketing itself across the region as the "official" Standard brand oil. In 1966, Chevron sued over the use of Standard, and won, forcing Esso to rebrand itself as Enco over the former Kyso territory. During and after the merger, Kyso constructed the Pascagoula Refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, which began operations in 1963, and continues to operate today.[8] In 1984, Standard Oil of California merged with Gulf Oil and renamed itself to Chevron;[9] the newly formed company changed over all of the former Kyso stations to the Chevron logo while retaining the Standard brand name. It still maintains some Standard-branded stations in all of its former territories, including the former Kyso states, in order to protect its use of the brand in those areas. Following the acquisition by Chevron, the "Kyso" name fell out of use.
In 2010, Chevron discontinued its retailing operations in Kentucky, leaving ownership of the Standard trademark in Kentucky in limbo.[10] Ironically, in 2016 ExxonMobil (the former Standard Oil of New Jersey, which had merged with Mobil in 1999 and still has stations in Kentucky to this day) was allowed to resume using the Esso trademark nationwide and thus the Esso logo returned to minor station signage at all Exxon and Mobil stations, effectively giving ExxonMobil de facto rights to the Standard name in Kentucky, though they are still owned by Chevron. Neither Chevron nor BP (which acquired Standard Oil of Ohio and Amoco and thus gained Standard trademarks) objected to the ruling.
Though now a defunct brand, Kyso road maps published during the company's prominence in the 1930s and 1940s, are highly sought after by map collectors.[11]
