Symantec 2016 Annual Report Download - page 96

the market growth has come from startups whose focus is on solving a specific customer issue or delivering a
niche-oriented product and from larger integration providers that increasingly are looking to put various types of
protection into their platforms. We are focused on delivering comprehensive customer solutions, integrating
across our broad product portfolio and partnering with other technology providers to differentiate ourselves from
the competition. We believe that the principal competitive factors necessary to be successful in our industry
include product quality and effectiveness, time-to-market, price, reputation, financial stability, breadth of product
offerings, customer support, brand recognition, and effective sales and marketing efforts.
In addition to the competition we face from direct competitors, we face indirect or potential competition
from retailers, application providers, operating system providers, network equipment manufacturers, and other
OEMs who may provide various solutions and functions in their current and future products. We also compete
for access to retail distribution channels and for spending at the retail level and in corporate accounts. In addition,
we compete with other software companies, operating system providers, network equipment manufacturers, and
other OEMs to acquire technologies, products, or companies and to publish software developed by third parties.
We also compete with other software companies in our effort to place our products on the computer equipment
sold to consumers and enterprises by OEMs.
Most of the channels in which our products are offered are highly competitive. Some of our consumer
competitors are intensely focused on customer acquisition, which has led competitors to offer their technology
for free, engage in aggressive marketing, or enter into competitive partnerships. Our primary security competitors
are Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”), and Trend Micro Inc. There are also several freeware
providers and regional security companies that we compete against. For our consumer backup offerings, our
primary competitors are Carbonite, Inc. and EMC Corporation. In the Secure Socket Layer Certificate market,
our primary competitors are Comodo Group, Inc. and GoDaddy.com, Inc. In the SaaS security market, our
primary competitors are Proofpoint and Microsoft. Our primary competitors in the managed security services
business are SecureWorks Corporation and IBM Corporation.
Intellectual property
Protective measures
We regard some of the features of our internal operations, software, and documentation as proprietary and
rely on copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures, contractual arrangements,
and 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 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.
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