Symantec 2016 Annual Report Download - page 107

programming or compatibility errors very difficult and time-consuming. In addition, despite testing by us and
others, errors, failures, or bugs may not be found in new products or releases until after commencement of
commercial shipments. In the past, we have discovered software errors, failures, and bugs in certain of our
product offerings after their introduction and, in some cases, have experienced delayed or lost revenues as a
result of these errors.
Errors, failures, or bugs in products released by us could result in negative publicity, damage to our brand,
product returns, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products, loss of competitive position, or claims by
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, security 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, 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 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 lawsuits, including patent litigation, class actions and governmental claims,
and we may be named in additional litigation. 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, third parties may claim that we have infringed their intellectual property rights, including
claims regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Because of constant technological change in the segments
19