Adobe 2004 Annual Report Download - page 22

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22
Adobe Ventures IV, L.P. Equity Investments
Above All Software, Inc. (formerly BAM Software, Inc.) X
Bellamax, Inc. X
Biz 360, Inc. X
C-Decisions, Inc. X
Convio, Inc. X
Digital Fountain X
Five Across, Inc. X
Global Acquisition, LLC X
GX Holdings, Inc. X
Kontiki, Inc. X
NetCell Corporation X
Oversight Technologies, Inc. X
Pervasive Security Systems, Inc. X
Sendmail, Inc. X
Shutterfly, Inc. X
TuVox, Inc. X
We intend to continue investing in new markets and technologies through limited partnerships as well as
through direct investments.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Since the personal computer and enterprise software industries are characterized by rapid technological change,
a continuous high level of investment is required for the enhancement of existing products and the development of
new products. We primarily develop our software internally. We occasionally acquire products developed by others
by purchasing the stock or assets of the business entity that held ownership rights to the technology. In other
instances, we have licensed or purchased the intellectual property ownership rights of programs developed by others
with license or technology transfer agreements that may obligate us to pay royalties, typically based on a dollar
amount per unit shipped or a percentage of the revenues generated by those programs.
During fiscal years ended December 3, 2004, November 28, 2003 and November 29, 2002, our research and
development expenses, including costs related to contract development, were $311.3 million, $277.0 million and
$246.1 million, respectively.
In May 2004, we acquired Q-Link Technologies, Inc (“Q-Link”), a privately held company, which provided
Java-based workflow technology that will be integrated with our Intelligent Documents platform to enable
customers to integrate document process management with core applications.
In May 2003, we purchased the technology assets of Syntrillium Software (“Syntrillium”), a privately held
company which developed, published and marketed digital audio tools including its recording application, Cool Edit
Pro, now renamed Adobe Audition, all of which have been added to our existing line of professional digital imaging
and video products. By adding Adobe Audition and the other tools to our existing line of products, we have
improved the Adobe video workflow and expanded the products and tools available to videographers, DVD authors
and independent filmmakers.
For further information regarding these acquisitions, see Note 2 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements.
PRODUCT PROTECTION
We regard our software as proprietary and protect it under the laws of copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade
secrets. We protect the source code of our software programs as trade secrets, and make source code available to
third parties only under limited circumstances and specific security and confidentiality constraints.