Yahoo 2015 Annual Report Download - page 26

effective trademark, patent, copyright, and trade secret protection might not be available or cost-
effective in every country in which our products and media properties are distributed or made
available through the Internet. Changes in patent law, such as changes in the law regarding
patentable subject matter, could also impact our ability to obtain patent protection for our
innovations. In particular, recent amendments to the U.S. patent law may affect our ability to protect
our innovations and defend against claims of patent infringement. Further, given the costs of
obtaining patent protection, we might choose not to protect (or not to protect in some jurisdictions)
certain innovations that later turn out to be important. There is also a risk that the scope of
protection under our patents may not be sufficient in some cases or that existing patents may be
deemed invalid or unenforceable. To help maintain our trade secrets, we have entered into
confidentiality agreements with most of our employees and contractors, and confidentiality
agreements with many of the parties with whom we conduct business, in order to limit access to and
disclosure of our proprietary information. If these confidentiality agreements are breached it could
compromise our trade secrets and cause us to lose any competitive advantage provided by those
trade secrets.
If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use, the value of our intellectual
property assets may be reduced. In addition, protecting our intellectual property and other
proprietary rights is expensive and time consuming. Any increase in the unauthorized use of our
intellectual property could make it more expensive to do business and consequently harm our
operating results.
We are, and may in the future be, subject to intellectual property infringement or other third-party
claims, which are costly to defend, could result in significant damage awards, and could limit our
ability to provide certain content or use certain technologies in the future.
Internet, technology, media, and patent holding companies often possess a significant number of
patents. Further, many of these companies and other parties are actively developing or purchasing
search, indexing, electronic commerce, and other Internet-related technologies, as well as a variety of
online business models and methods.
We believe that these parties will continue to take steps such as seeking patent protection to protect
these technologies. In addition, patent holding companies may continue to seek to monetize patents
they have purchased or otherwise obtained. As a result, disputes regarding the ownership of
technologies and rights associated with online businesses are likely to continue to arise in the future.
From time to time, parties assert patent infringement claims against us. Currently, we are engaged in
a number of lawsuits regarding patent issues and have been notified of a number of other potential
disputes.
In addition to patent claims, third parties have asserted, and are likely in the future to assert, claims
against us alleging infringement of copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret rights or other
proprietary rights, or alleging unfair competition, violation of federal or state statutes or other claims,
including alleged violation of international statutory and common law. In addition, third parties have
made, and may continue to make, infringement and related claims against us over the display of
content or search results triggered by search terms, including the display of advertising, that include
trademark terms.
As we expand our business and develop new technologies, products and services, we may become
increasingly subject to intellectual property infringement and other claims, including those that may
arise under international laws. In the event that there is a determination that we have infringed third-
party proprietary rights such as 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
22