Yahoo 2014 Annual Report Download - page 17

Additional information regarding competition is included in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this
Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Intellectual Property
We create, own, and maintain a wide array of intellectual property assets that we believe are among
our most valuable assets. Our intellectual property assets include patents and patent applications
related to our innovations, products and services; trademarks related to our brands, products and
services; copyrights in software and creative content; trade secrets; and other intellectual property
rights and licenses of various kinds. We seek to protect our intellectual property assets through
patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks and laws of the U.S. and other countries, and through
contractual provisions. We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our
employees and contractors, and utilize non-disclosure agreements with third parties with whom we
conduct business in order to secure and protect our proprietary rights and to limit access to, and
disclosure of, our proprietary information. We consider the Yahoo! trademark and our many related
company brands to be among our most valuable assets, and we have registered these trademarks in
the U.S. and other countries throughout the world and actively seek to protect them. We have
licensed in the past, and expect that we may license in the future, certain of our technology and
proprietary rights, such as trademark, patent, copyright, and trade secret rights, to third parties.
Additional information regarding certain risks related to our intellectual property is included in Part I,
Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Employees
As of December 31, 2014, we had approximately 12,500 full-time employees and fixed term
contractors. Our future success is substantially dependent on the performance of our senior
management and key technical personnel, as well as our continuing ability to attract, maintain the
caliber of, and retain highly qualified technical, executive, and managerial personnel. Additional
information regarding certain risks related to our employees is included in Part I, Item 1A “Risk
Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Available Information
Our Website is located at http://www.yahoo.com. Our investor relations Website is located at
http://investor.yahoo.net. We make available free of charge on our investor relations Website under
“Financial Info” our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports
on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we
electronically file or furnish such materials to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
The SEC maintains a Website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other
information regarding our filings at http://www.sec.gov.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
We face significant competition for users, advertisers, publishers, developers, and distributors.
We face significant competition from online search engines, sites offering integrated internet
products and services, social media and networking sites, e-commerce sites, and broadcast and print
media. In a number of international markets, especially those in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and
Latin America, we face substantial competition from local Internet service providers and other
entities that offer search, communications, and other commercial services.
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