Yosemite National Park,
CA – January 2016 / Newsmaker Alert / DNC
Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc. (DNCY) is shocked and disappointed
that the National Park Service would announce unnecessary changes to the
beloved names of places in Yosemite National Park, trying to use them as
a bargaining chip in a legal dispute involving basic contract rights.
This
is especially so because the NPS is fully aware that DNCY has offered to
license these trademarks, free of any charge, to allow NPS or the new concessionaire
at Yosemite to use the trademarks and avoid any name changes or impact
on the park visitor experience while this dispute is being settled by the
courts. On Thursday (January 14) NPS announced it intends to change the
names.
DNCY
would also like to set the record straight on a number of statements included
in the federal government’s January 4, 2016 response to our complaint against
the NPS filed in September 2015:
-
The NPS
in 1993 required DNCY, as the new concessionaire at Yosemite, to purchase
the assets of the previous concessionaire, including its intellectual property,
at a cost of $115 million in today’s dollars along with the assumption
of $40 million in liabilities.
-
That included
several valuable trademarked names such as The Ahwahnee. In turn, the DNCY
contract requires the NPS to have the new concessionaire buy all of DNCY’s
property, including its intellectual property. The NPS recently reaffirmed
this in a December 29, 2015 letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior
(retracting NPS’s earlier position that intellectual property was not included).
-
DNCY has
not “grossly overvalued” the trademarks. DNCY 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. Again,
it should be noted the intellectual property represented a portion of the
property purchased by DNCY for $115 million in today’s dollars.
-
Months
prior to the bid submission deadline, DNCY shared its appraisals with NPS.
After NPS disputed DNCY’s appraisals and failed to share its own appraisal,
DNCY offered to enter binding arbitration to set a fair value for the intellectual
property. DNCY also repeatedly offered to allow NPS to meet independently
with DNCY’s appraisers so NPS would understand the appraisal methodologies.
NPS refused. Only after being ignored and then rebuffed, DNCY filed a protest
with the federal Government Accountability Office requesting that NPS work
with DNCY to reach a fair value to include in the bidding prospectus.
-
It is
common practice for concessionaires to use trademarks at federal locations.
This is done to safeguard the treasured names, words and symbols from improper
use by entities not under contract with the government. The NPS is well
aware of this, having required DNCY to purchase trademarks from the previous
concessionaire in 1993. NPS also knew that DNCY registered additional trademarks
because the government accepted DNCY’s trademark registration applications.
A couple
of other relevant points around this topic:
-
The National
Park Service has repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue of intellectual property.
During the RFP process, it at first completely ignored the issue. Then
in December 2014 NPS notified all potential bidders that the new concessionaire
would be required to purchase the intangible assets of the existing concessionaire,
DNCY. Then, after more than eight months and after selecting Aramark for
the award, in August 2015 NPS sent a letter to DNCY stating that it had
decided that it wouldn’t require the winning bidder to purchase the intangible
assets. Four months later on December 29, 2015 (and after DNCY commenced
litigation over the issue), NPS retracted its August, 2015 letter and reaffirmed
that the winning bidder must purchase intangible assets such as trademarks,
customer database, and domain names from DNCY.
-
DNCY hopes
NPS and the new concessionaire will not change the names of historic places
or venues at Yosemite National Park. 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. That is why we have offered
to license these trademarks, free of any charge, to NPS to avoid any name
changes or impact on the park visitor experience while the disagreement
between DNCY and NPS heads toward resolution in the courts.
In summary,
all we want in this is fair and just treatment from the National Park Service
and for it to follow the letter of our contract. We fulfilled our obligations
in 1993, we have been proud and exemplary stewards of Yosemite National
Park for the last 22 years, and we have demonstrated our genuine desire
to resolve this matter for the last 18 months.
About
Delaware North’s Parks and Resorts Business
Delaware
North is a global leader in the hospitality industry, operating lodging,
recreational activities, food and beverage services, retail and educational
programming at destinations throughout North America, Australia and Asia.
Delaware North operates in many of the country’s iconic national and state
parks, including Yosemite National Park and Niagara Falls State Park, as
well as at cultural attractions such as Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.
Its portfolio also includes five luxury resorts in Australia. To learn
more about Delaware North’s hospitality management expertise, visit www.DelawareNorth.com/parks-and-resorts-home.aspx.
About
Delaware North
Delaware
North is one of the largest privately held hospitality and food service
companies in the world. Founded in 1915 and owned by the Jacobs family
for 100 years, Delaware North has global operations at high-profile places
such as sports and entertainment venues, national and state parks, destination
resorts and restaurants, airports, and regional casinos. Our 60,000 employee
associates are dedicated to creating special experiences one guest at a
time in serving more than a half-billion guests annually. Delaware North
operates in the sports, travel hospitality, restaurant and catering, parks,
resorts, gaming, and specialty retail industries and has annual revenue
of about $3 billion. "Delaware North" is a reference to Delaware North
Companies Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries, including location-specific
operating entities. Learn more about Delaware North, a global leader in
hospitality and food service, at www.DelawareNorth.com.
Media
Contact:
Glen
White
Manager-Corporate
Communications
Delaware
North
716-858-5753
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