Blackberry 2013 Annual Report Download - page 63

Some of the Company’s competitors have, or are affiliated with companies having, substantially greater resources than the Company
has, and these competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property infringement litigation or other
proceedings to a greater degree and for longer periods of time than the Company can. Regardless of whether third-party claims that
the Company is infringing patents or other intellectual property rights have any merit, these claims could:
In addition to being liable for potentially substantial damages relating to a patent or other intellectual property infringement action
against the Company or, in certain circumstances, the Company’s customers with respect to its products and services, the Company
may be prohibited from developing or commercializing certain technologies or products unless the Company obtains a license from
the holder of the patent or other intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to obtain any
such license on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If the Company does not obtain such a license, its business, results of
operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected and the Company could be required to cease related business
operations in some markets and restructure its business to focus on continuing operations in other markets.
The Company may not be able to obtain patents or other intellectual property protections necessary to secure its
proprietary technology and products.
The Company’s commercial success depends upon its ability to develop new or improved technologies and products, and to
successfully obtain or acquire patent or other proprietary or statutory protection for these technologies and products in Canada, the
United States and other countries. The Company seeks to patent concepts, components, protocols and other inventions that are
considered to have commercial value or that will likely yield a technological advantage. The Company owns rights to an array of
patented and patent pending technologies relating to wireless communication in the United States, Canada and other countries. The
Company continues to devote significant resources to protecting its proprietary technology. However, the Company may not be able
to continue to develop technology that is patentable, patents may not be issued in connection with the Company’s pending
applications and allowed claims by the Company may not be sufficient to protect its technology. Furthermore, any patents issued
could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented and may not provide proprietary protection or a competitive advantage.
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• adversel
y
affect the Com
p
an
y
’s relationshi
p
s with its customers;
• be time-consumin
g
to evaluate and defend;
• result in si
g
nificant costs to defend the Com
p
an
y
in liti
g
ation or other
p
roceedin
g
s;
• result in ne
g
ative
p
ublicit
y
for the Com
p
an
y
;
• divert mana
g
ement’s attention and resources;
• cause
p
roduct and software shi
p
ment dela
y
s or sto
pp
a
g
es;
• sub
j
ect the Com
p
an
y
to si
g
nificant liabilities;
• re
q
uire the Com
p
an
y
to enter into costl
y
ro
y
alt
y
or licensin
g
a
g
reements;
• re
q
uire the Com
p
an
y
to develo
p
p
ossible workaround solutions that ma
y
be costl
y
and disru
p
tive to im
p
lement; and
• re
q
uire the Com
p
an
y
to cease certain activities or to cease sellin
g
its
p
roducts and services in certain markets.