DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite officials have said their claim of $10 million in damages tied to the loss of the Yosemite National Park concessions contract has not been overvalued.
A lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in September disputed the figure, saying that a 1993 purchase of intellectual property rights from the previous concessionaire, Yosemite Park & Curry Co. (YP&CC) was specifically tied to YP&CC’s stock, not any other assets.
The Justice Department argued that DNC inflated the value of that intellectual property, but DNC said in a press release that it had two independent appraisals of the intellectual property – which includes trademarked names, websites and customer databases – performed by reputable third-party experts. The valuation results of those separate appraisals are very similar, the release said, while the intellectual property represented a portion of the property purchased by DNC for $115 million in today’s dollars.
Also in dispute is whether the appraisals of the intellectual property rights were shared. The Justice Department claims that DNC provided summary valuations of the intellectual property assets “without any explanation or documentary support,” while DNC claims that the Park Service failed to share its own appraisals and refused binding arbitration to settle on a value.
“We purchased these trademarks when we commenced our work in 1993, as required by our contract with NPS, and our only interest is selling them on to the new concessionaire for fair value, a requirement NPS is obligated to enforce,” DNC said in the press release. “While this disagreement is ongoing we have even offered to license these trademarks, free of any charge, to NPS to avoid any name changes or impact on the park visitor experience.”