Symantec 2014 Annual Report Download - page 89

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 either a perpetual or subscription based time limited 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, 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 more than 2,200 patents, in addition to foreign patents and pending U.S. and foreign patent
applications, 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 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
latter 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, and because a
significant portion of our in-period revenue comes from our deferred revenue balance.
Employees
As of March 28, 2014, we employed more than 20,800 people worldwide, approximately 44% of whom
reside in the U.S. Approximately 6,600 employees work in sales and marketing, 7,000 in research and
development, 5,400 in support and services, and 1,800 in management, manufacturing, and administration.
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