Symantec 2007 Annual Report Download - page 20

other measures to protect our proprietary information. Our intellectual property is an important and valuable asset
that enables us to gain recognition for our products, services, and technology and enhance our competitive position.
As part of our confidentiality procedures, we generally enter into non-disclosure agreements with our
employees, distributors, and corporate partners, and we enter into license agreements with respect to our software,
documentation, and other proprietary information. These license agreements are generally non-transferable and
have a perpetual term. We also educate our employees on trade secret protection and employ measures to protect our
facilities, equipment, and networks.
Trademarks, Patents, Copyrights, and Licenses
Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks or registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries. In
addition to Symantec and the Symantec logo, we have used, registered, and/or applied to register other specific
trademarks and service marks to help distinguish our products, technologies, and services from those of our
competitors in the U.S. and foreign countries and jurisdictions. We enforce our trademark, service mark, and trade
name rights in the U.S. and abroad. The duration of our trademark registrations varies from country to country, and
in the U.S. we generally are able to maintain our trademark rights and renew any trademark registrations for as long
as the trademarks are in use.
We have a number of U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, including patents and
rights to patent applications acquired through strategic transactions, which relate to various aspects of our products
and technology. The duration of our patents is determined by the laws of the country of issuance and for the U.S. is
typically 17 years from the date of issuance of the patent or 20 years from the date of filing of the patent application
resulting in the patent, which we believe is adequate relative to the expected lives of our products.
Our products are protected under U.S. and international copyright laws and laws related to the protection of
intellectual property and proprietary information. We take measures to label such products with the appropriate
proprietary rights notices, and we actively enforce such rights in the U.S. and abroad. However, these measures may
not provide sufficient protection, and our intellectual property rights may be challenged. In addition, we license
some intellectual property from third parties for use in our products, and generally must rely on the third party to
protect the licensed intellectual property rights. While we believe that our ability to maintain and protect our
intellectual property rights is important to our success, we also believe that our business as a whole is not materially
dependent on any particular patent, trademark, license, or other intellectual property right.
Seasonality
As is typical for many large software companies, our business is seasonal. Software license and maintenance
orders are generally higher in our third and fourth fiscal quarters and lower in our first and second fiscal quarters. A
significant decline in license and maintenance orders is typical in the first quarter of our fiscal year as compared to
license and maintenance orders in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year. In addition, we generally receive a
higher volume of software license and maintenance orders in the last month of a quarter, with orders concentrated in
the later part of that month. We believe that this seasonality primarily reflects customer spending patterns and
budget cycles, as well as the impact of compensation incentive plans for our sales personnel. Revenue generally
reflects similar seasonal patterns but to a lesser extent than orders because revenue is not recognized until an order is
shipped or services are performed and other revenue recognition criteria are met.
Employees
As of March 31, 2007, we employed approximately 17,100 people worldwide, approximately 54 percent of
whom reside in the U.S. Approximately 6,000 employees work in sales, marketing, and related activities; 5,000 in
product development; 3,600 in support and services; and 2,500 in management, manufacturing, and administration.
Other Information
Our Internet address is www.symantec.com. We make available free of charge on our website our annual
reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those
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