Intel 2009 Annual Report Download - page 17

Table of Contents
Flash Memory
Our NAND flash memory products currently compete with NAND products primarily manufactured by Hynix Semiconductor
Inc., Micron, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SanDisk Corporation, and Toshiba.
Connectivity
We offer products designed for wireless and wired connectivity; the communications infrastructure, including network
processors; and networked storage. Our WiFi and WiMAX products currently compete with products manufactured by
Atheros Communications, Inc., Broadcom, QUALCOMM, and other smaller companies.
Competition Lawsuits and Government Matters
We are currently a party to a variety of lawsuits and government matters involving our competitive practices. See “Note 28:
Contingencies” in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Acquisitions and Strategic Investments
During 2009, we completed the acquisition of Wind River Systems, Inc., a vendor of software for embedded devices. The
objective of the acquisition of Wind River Systems was to enable the introduction of products for the embedded and handheld
market segments, resulting in benefits for our existing operations. See “Note 15: Acquisitions” in Part II, Item 8 of this Form
10-K.
Intellectual Property and Licensing
Intellectual property rights that apply to our various products and services include patents, copyrights, trade secrets,
trademarks, and maskwork rights. We maintain a program to protect our investment in technology by attempting to ensure
respect for our intellectual property rights. The extent of the legal protection given to different types of intellectual property
rights varies under different countries’ legal systems. We intend to license our intellectual property rights where we can obtain
adequate consideration. See “Competition” earlier in this section, “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A, and “Note 28:
Contingencies” in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
We have filed and obtained a number of patents in the U.S. and other countries. While our patents are an important element of
our success, our business as a whole is not significantly dependent on any one patent. We and other companies in the
computing, telecommunications, and related high-technology fields typically apply for and receive, in the aggregate, tens of
thousands of overlapping patents annually in the U.S. and other countries. We believe that the duration of the applicable
patents that we are granted is adequate relative to the expected lives of our products. Because of the fast pace of innovation
and product development, our products are often obsolete before the patents related to them expire, and sometimes are
obsolete before the patents related to them are even granted. As we expand our product offerings into new industries, we also
seek to extend our patent development efforts to patent such product offerings. Established competitors in existing and new
industries, as well as companies that purchase and enforce patents and other intellectual property, may already have patents
covering similar products. There is no assurance that we will be able to obtain patents covering our own products, or that we
will be able to obtain licenses from such companies on favorable terms or at all.
The majority of the software that we distribute, including software embedded in our component- and system-level products, is
entitled to copyright protection. To distinguish Intel products from our competitors’ products, we have obtained certain
trademarks and trade names for our products, and we maintain cooperative advertising programs with certain customers to
promote our brands and to identify products containing genuine Intel components. We also protect certain details about our
processes, products, and strategies as trade secrets, keeping confidential the information that we believe provides us with a
competitive advantage. We have ongoing programs designed to maintain the confidentiality of such information.
Compliance with Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulations
Our compliance efforts focus on monitoring regulatory and resource trends and setting company-wide performance targets for
key resources and emissions. These targets address several parameters, including product design; chemical, energy, and water
use; climate change; waste recycling; and emissions.
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