Apple 2009 Annual Report Download - page 14

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 14 of the 2009 Apple annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 106

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106

Table of Contents
Broadcom Corp., Cirrus Logic Inc., Corning Inc., Cypress Semiconductor Corp., Dover Corp., Flextronics Inc., Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd.,
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., Imagination Technologies Group PLC., Infineon Technologies AG, Intel Corp., Inventec Appliances Corp.,
LG Display Co. Ltd., Linear Technology Corp., MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp., Maxim Integrated Products Inc., Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd.,
Murata Mfg. Co. Ltd., National Semiconductor Corp., Nichia Corp., NVIDIA Corp., NXP B.V., OmniVision Technologies Inc., Quanta
Computer, Inc., Pegatron Corp., Philips Lumileds Lighting Co., Renesas Semiconductor Co. Ltd., RF Micro Devices Inc., ROHM Co. Ltd.,
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Skyworks Solutions Inc., STMicroelectronics NV, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., Texas Instruments Inc., Toshiba
Corp., Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd., and TriQuint Semiconductor Inc.
Research and Development
Because the personal computer, mobile communication and consumer electronics industries are characterized by rapid technological advances,
the Company’
s ability to compete successfully is heavily dependent upon its ability to ensure a continual and timely flow of competitive
products, services and technologies to the marketplace. The Company continues to develop new products and technologies and to enhance
existing products in the areas of computer hardware and peripherals, mobile communication devices, consumer electronics products, system
software, applications software, networking and communications software and solutions, and Internet services and solutions. The Company may
expand the range of its product offerings and intellectual property through licensing and acquisition of third-
party business and technology. The
Company’s research and development expenditures totaled $1.3 billion, $1.1 billion and $782 million in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively.
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights and Licenses
The Company currently holds rights to patents and copyrights relating to certain aspects of its computer systems, iPhone and iPod devices,
peripherals, software and services. In addition, the Company has registered and/or has applied to register, trademarks and service marks in the
U.S. and a number of foreign countries for “Apple,” the Apple logo, “Macintosh,” “Mac,” “iPhone,” “iPod,” “iTunes,” “iTunes Store,” “
Apple
TV,” “MobileMe”
and numerous other trademarks and service marks. Although the Company believes the ownership of such patents,
copyrights, trademarks and service marks is an important factor in its business and that its success does depend in part on the ownership thereof,
the Company relies primarily on the innovative skills, technical competence and marketing abilities of its personnel.
The Company regularly files patent applications to protect inventions arising from its research and development, and is currently pursuing
thousands of patent applications around the world. Over time, the Company has accumulated a portfolio of several thousand issued patents in the
U.S. and worldwide. In addition, the Company currently holds copyrights relating to certain aspects of its products and services. No single patent
or copyright is solely responsible for protecting the Company’
s products. The Company believes the duration of the applicable patents it has
been granted is adequate relative to the expected lives of its products. Due to the fast pace of innovation and product development, the
Company’
s products are often obsolete before the patents related to them expire, and sometimes are obsolete before the patents related to them
are even granted.
Many of the Company’
s products are designed to include intellectual property obtained from third parties. While it may be necessary in the
future to seek or renew licenses relating to various aspects of its products and business methods, the Company believes, based upon past
experience and industry practice, such licenses generally could be obtained on commercially reasonable terms; however, there is no guarantee
such licenses could be obtained at all. Because of technological changes in the computer, digital music player and mobile communications
industries, current extensive patent coverage, and the rapid rate of issuance of new patents, it is possible certain components of the Company’
s
products and business methods may unknowingly infringe existing patents or intellectual property rights of others. From time to time, the
Company has been notified that it may be infringing certain patents or other intellectual property rights of third parties.
11