Symantec 2014 Annual Report Download - page 99

customers or others. Many of our end-user customers use our products in applications that are critical to their
businesses and may have a greater sensitivity to defects in our products than to defects in other, less critical,
software products. In addition, if an actual or perceived breach of information integrity or availability occurs in
one of our end-user customer’s systems, regardless of whether the breach is attributable to our products, the
market perception of the effectiveness of our products could be harmed. Alleviating any of these problems could
require significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions, delays, or
cessation of our product licensing, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could
adversely affect our operating results.
If we do not protect our proprietary information and prevent third parties from making unauthorized use of
our products and technology, our financial results could be harmed.
Most of our software and underlying technology is proprietary. We seek to protect our proprietary rights through
a combination of confidentiality agreements and procedures and through copyright, patent, trademark, and trade
secret laws. However, all of these measures afford only limited protection and may be challenged, invalidated, or
circumvented by third parties. Third parties may copy all or portions of our products or otherwise obtain, use,
distribute, and sell our proprietary information without authorization.
Third parties may also develop similar or superior technology independently by designing around our patents.
Our shrink-wrap license agreements are not signed by licensees and therefore may be unenforceable under the
laws of some jurisdictions. Furthermore, the laws of some foreign countries do not offer the same level of
protection of our proprietary rights as the laws of the U.S., and we may be subject to unauthorized use of our
products in those countries. The unauthorized copying or use of our products or proprietary information could
result in reduced sales of our products. Any legal action to protect proprietary information that we may bring or
be engaged in with a strategic partner or vendor could adversely affect our ability to access software, operating
system, and hardware platforms of such partner or vendor, or cause such partner or vendor to choose not to offer
our products to their customers. In addition, any legal action to protect proprietary information that we may bring
or be engaged in, alone or through our alliances with the Business Software Alliance (“BSA”), or the Software &
Information Industry Association (“SIIA”), could be costly, may distract management from day-to-day
operations, and may lead to additional claims against us, which could adversely affect our operating results.
From time to time we are a party to class action and other lawsuits and investigations, which typically require
significant management time and attention and result in significant legal expenses, and which could, if not
determined favorably, negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
We have been named as a party to class action lawsuits, and we may be named in additional litigation. For
example, during the first quarter of fiscal 2013, we were advised by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the
Department of Justice’s Civil Division and the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
Columbia that the government is investigating our compliance with certain provisions of our U.S. General
Services Administration Multiple Award Schedule Contract No. GS-35F-0240T effective January 24, 2007,
including provisions relating to pricing, country of origin, accessibility, and the disclosure of commercial sales
practices. The expense of defending such litigation may be costly and divert management’s attention from the
day-to-day operations of our business, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and cash
flows. In addition, an unfavorable outcome in such litigation could result in significant fines, settlements,
monetary damages or injunctive relief that could negatively impact our ability to conduct our business, results of
operations, and cash flows.
Third parties claiming that we infringe their proprietary rights could cause us to incur significant legal
expenses and prevent us from selling our products.
From time to time, we receive claims that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of others, including
claims regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Because of constant technological change in the segments
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