Yahoo 2012 Annual Report Download - page 32

patents, copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret rights, or other third-party rights such as publicity and privacy
rights, we could incur substantial monetary liability, or be required to enter into costly royalty or licensing
agreements or be prevented from using such rights, which could require us to change our business practices in the
future, hinder us from offering certain features, functionalities, products or services, require us to develop non-
infringing products or technologies, and limit our ability to compete effectively. We may also incur substantial
expenses in defending against third-party claims regardless of the merit of such claims. In addition, many of our
agreements with our customers or Affiliates require us to indemnify them for some types of third-party
intellectual property infringement claims, which could increase our costs in defending such claims and our
damages. Furthermore, such customers and Affiliates may discontinue the use of our products, services, and
technologies either as a result of injunctions or otherwise. The occurrence of any of these results could harm our
brands or have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, operating results, and cash flows.
A variety of new and existing U.S. and foreign government laws and regulations could subject us to claims,
judgments, monetary liabilities and other remedies, and to limitations on our business practices.
We are subject to numerous U.S. and foreign laws and regulations covering a wide variety of subject matters.
New laws and regulations, changes in existing laws and regulations or the interpretation of them, our introduction
of new products, or an extension of our business into new areas, could increase our future compliance costs,
make our products and services less attractive to our users, or cause us to change or limit our business practices.
We may incur substantial expenses to comply with laws and regulations or defend against a claim that we have
not complied with them. Further, any failure on our part to comply with any relevant laws or regulations may
subject us to significant civil or criminal liabilities, penalties, and negative publicity.
The application of existing domestic and international laws and regulations to us relating to issues such as user
privacy and data protection, security, defamation, pricing, advertising, taxation, gambling, sweepstakes,
promotions, billing, real estate, consumer protection, accessibility, content regulation, quality of services, law
enforcement demands, telecommunications, mobile, television, and intellectual property ownership and
infringement in many instances is unclear or unsettled. Further, the application to us or our subsidiaries of
existing laws regulating or requiring licenses for certain businesses of our advertisers can be unclear. U.S. export
control laws and regulations also impose requirements and restrictions on exports to certain nations and persons
and on our business. Internationally, we may also be subject to laws regulating our activities in foreign countries
and to foreign laws and regulations that are inconsistent from country to country.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) is intended, in part, to limit the liability of eligible online
service providers for caching, hosting, listing or linking to, third-party Websites or user content that include
materials that infringe copyrights or other rights of others. Portions of the Communications Decency Act
(“CDA”) are intended to provide statutory protections to online service providers who distribute third-party
content. We rely on the protections provided by both the DMCA and the CDA in conducting our business, and
may be adversely impacted by future legislation and future judicial decisions altering these safe harbors or if
international jurisdictions refuse to apply similar protections. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act is
intended to impose restrictions on the ability of online services to collect some types of information from
children under the age of 13. In addition, Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology to Eradicate Cyber
Threats to Our Children Act of 2008 requires online service providers to report evidence of violations of federal
child pornography laws under certain circumstances. Other federal, state or international laws and legislative
efforts designed to protect children on the Internet may impose additional requirements on us.
Changes in regulations or user concerns regarding privacy and protection of user data, or any failure to
comply with such laws, could adversely affect our business.
Federal, state, and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, disclosure, sharing and
security of data that we receive from and about our users. The use of consumer data by online service providers
and advertising networks is a topic of active interest among federal, state, and international regulatory bodies,
and the regulatory environment is unsettled. Many states have passed laws requiring notification to users where
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