Yahoo 2004 Annual Report Download - page 31

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Item 2. Properties
Our headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California and aggregate approximately one million square feet. Office space
for our international subsidiaries is leased in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Calgary, Chengdu, Copenha-
gen, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Echivolles, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Oslo, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico
City, Milan, Mumbai, Munich, New Delhi, Paris, S˜
ao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Taipei,
Tokyo, Toronto and Trondheim. We also lease offices in various locations in the United States, including Atlanta, Boston,
Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Irvine, the Los Angeles Area, Miami, New York, Orlando, Reston, the San Diego
Area, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.. Our principal Web server equipment and operations are
maintained in California and several other domestic and international locations.
We believe that our existing facilities are adequate to meet current requirements, and that suitable additional or substitute
space will be available as needed to accommodate any further physical expansion of corporate operations and for any
additional sales offices.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
From time to time, third parties assert patent infringement claims against Yahoo!. Currently, we are engaged in several
lawsuits regarding patent issues and have been notified of a number of other potential patent disputes.
In addition, from time to time we are subject to other legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business,
including claims of alleged infringement of trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights, and a variety of
claims, including claims alleging defamation or invasion of privacy, arising in connection with our email, message boards,
auction sites, shopping services, and other communications and community features.
In October 2000, 800-JR-Cigar, Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
against Overture, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo! acquired in October 2003. In October 2002, Robert Novak,
doing business as PetsWarehouse and PetsWarehouse.com, filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of New York against Overture. In May 2004, Government Employees Insurance Company (‘‘GEICO’’)
filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia against Overture. The plaintiffs in each of these cases claim, among
other things, that they have trademark rights in certain search terms and that Overture violates these rights by allowing
its advertisers to bid on these search terms. The complaints seek injunctive relief and damages. Overture settled with
GEICO in November 2004 and with Robert Novak and Pets Warehouse in February 2005. Overture has also been
named as a defendant in several other trade name infringement actions filed in Los Angeles, California in which plaintiffs
made similar claims. Yahoo! and Overture believe that Overture has meritorious defenses to liability and damages in each
of these lawsuits and are contesting them vigorously. In August 2003, Accor filed a similar complaint in the Nanterre
District Court in France against Overture and Overture S.A.R.L., Overture’s wholly-owned subsidiary in France. On
January 17, 2005, the Nanterre District Court ruled in favor of Accor and found Overture and Overture S.A.R.L. liable
for trademark infringement. Overture S.A.R.L. has appealed, and Overture intends to appeal, this decision.
On May 24, 2001, Arista Records, Inc., Bad Boy Records, BMG Music d/b/a The RCA Records Label, Capitol
Records, Inc., Virgin Records America, Inc., Sony Music Entertainment Inc., UMG Recordings, Inc., Interscope Records,
Motown Record Company, L.P., and Zomba Recording Corporation filed a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement
against LAUNCH in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs allege,
among other things, that the consumer-influenced portion of LAUNCH’s LAUNCHcast service is ‘‘interactive’’ within
the meaning of Section 114 of the Copyright Act and therefore does not qualify for the compulsory license provided for
by the Copyright Act. The Complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and damages for the alleged infringement.
After the lawsuit was commenced, Yahoo! entered into an agreement to acquire LAUNCH. In June 2001, LAUNCH
settled the LAUNCH litigation as to UMG Recordings, Inc. Our acquisition of LAUNCH closed in August 2001, and
since that time LAUNCH has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo!. Yahoo! and LAUNCH do not believe that
LAUNCH has infringed any rights of plaintiffs and intend to vigorously contest the lawsuit. In January 2003, LAUNCH
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