eBay 2015 Annual Report Download - page 17

to continually improve our technology to enhance the buyer and seller experience and to increase efficiency,
scalability and security. For information regarding technology-related risks, see the information in “Item 1A:
Risk Factors” under the caption “Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of our websites,
applications, products or services could harm our business.”
Intellectual Property
We regard the protection of our intellectual property, including our trademarks (particularly those covering
the eBay name), patents, copyrights, domain names, trade dress and trade secrets as critical to our success. We
aggressively protect our intellectual property rights by relying on federal, state and common law rights in the
U.S. and internationally, as well as a variety of administrative procedures. We also rely on contractual
restrictions to protect our proprietary rights in products and services. We routinely enter into confidentiality and
invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors and nondisclosure agreements with parties
with whom we conduct business to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information.
We pursue the registration of our domain names, trademarks and service marks in the U.S. and
internationally. Additionally, we have filed U.S. and international patent applications covering certain aspects of
our proprietary technology. Effective trademark, copyright, patent, domain name, trade dress and trade secret
protection is typically expensive to maintain and may require litigation. We must protect our intellectual property
rights and other proprietary rights in an increasing number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and time
consuming and may not be successful.
We have registered our core brands as trademarks and domain names in the U.S. and a large number of
other jurisdictions and have in place an active program to continue to secure trademarks and domain names that
correspond to our brands in markets of interest. If we are unable to register or protect our trademarks or domain
names, we could be adversely affected in any jurisdiction in which our trademarks or domain names are not
registered or protected. We have licensed in the past, and expect to license in the future, certain of our proprietary
rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to others.
From time to time, third parties have claimed — and others will likely claim in the future — that we have
infringed their intellectual property rights. We are typically involved in a number of such legal proceedings at
any time. Please see the information in “Item 3: Legal Proceedings” and in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the
captions “We are subject to patent litigation,” “The listing or sale by our users of items that allegedly infringe the
intellectual property rights of rights owners, including pirated or counterfeit items, may harm its business,” and
“We may be unable to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, or third parties may allege
that we are infringing their intellectual property rights.”
Employees
As of December 31, 2015, we employed approximately 11,600 people globally. Approximately 6,200 of our
employees were located in the U.S.
Available Information
Our Internet address is www.ebay.com. Our investor relations website is located at https://
investors.ebayinc.com. We make available free of charge on our investor relations website under the heading
“SEC Filings” our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form
8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically
filed with (or furnished to) the SEC.
We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment
community on our investor relations website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements
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