DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite officials quickly responded to the government's request that their claim for more than $10 million in damages tied to the loss of the Yosemite National Park concessions contract be dismissed, denying that their valuation of intellectual property was overvalued and accusing the National Park Service of "flip-flopping" when it comes to trademark issues.

On Thursday the concessionaire issued a press release "to set the record straight on a number of statements" laid out in the Justice Department's filing. Chief among them, DNC said, was that they were required to purchase the intellectual property rights from the previous concessionaire, Yosemite Park & Curry Co., back in 1993. The government maintained in its response to DNC's lawsuit filed last September that the 1993 purchase was specifically tied to YP&CC's stock, not any other assets.

While the Justice Department argued that DNC had "wildly inflated" the value of that intellectual property, the concessionaire said Thursday 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. Again, it should be noted the intellectual property represented a portion of the property purchased by DNCY for $115 million in today’s dollars."

Another point of contention is whether the two parties shared the results of their respective appraisals of those intellectual property rights. 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 also refused binding arbitration to settle on a value.

"DNCY also repeatedly offered to allow NPS to meet independently with DNCY’s appraisers so NPS would understand the appraisal methodologies. NPS refused," the concessionaire said.

DNC also took exception with the Justice Department's description of its parent company's business model. The government stated that Delaware North seeks to bolster its bottom line by securing trademarks to iconic U.S.-owned properties, and pointed to an example from the Kennedy Space Center. But DNC said it was required under its contract with NASA to obtain a trademark for "Space Shuttle Atlantis" to maintain the intellectual property for NASA. If another concessionaire is hired, the trademarks "will be handed over to the next steward of the visitor complex at the end of the contract," wrote DNC.

Yosemite's new concessionaire, a subsidiary of Aramark Leisure, is to take over on March 1. While the Park Service has left open the option for Aramark to change the names of the buildings at Yosemite to which DNC claims trademark rights, DNC officials said they hope "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," the concessionaire said. "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."