Some numbers can now be put to some of the "Tavern on the Green" IP value

As discussed in this blog, the real value of bankrupt New York City restaurant Tavern on the Green was in its IP.  The trademark was conceived as having two subsets: use in NY, CT, NJ and PA as a restaurant, and use outside of the tri-state area and use for other purposes. Now a value has been set on the latter.

Royalty free use of the Tavern on the Green name and logo for restaurants outside of NY, NJ, CT and parts of PA, ownership of the mark for oils and salad dressings, and exclusive rights to register and use the mark for other products have been sold to Tavern International, LLC for $1.3M. When compared to Circuit City, gone for two years now and still no buyers for the IP, creditors should be okay with this.

The gorilla in the room, of course, is the use of the mark for a restaurant in New York City. Though original valuations of that IPR hit almost $20M, an analysis of the ktMINE database’s restaurant trademark licenses for operating in New York yields conservative royalty rates, with most of the agreements having a basis of license gross sales, and with the median royalty rate ranging from 3% to 4.99%.