Blackberry 2015 Annual Report Download - page 26

Table of Contents
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At the present time, the Company has the required regulatory certifications for its testing facilities which allow the Company to
perform all the testing required by the FCC, Industry Canada, and the R&TTE in alignment with the Company's device
development and release strategy. In addition, the Company is able to perform some of the testing which is required by other
international regulatory authorities in some of the countries where the Company’s products are commercially available.
Environmental Regulations and Costs
Some of the Company’s operations are subject to regulation under various provincial, state, federal and international laws
relating to environmental protection and the proliferation of hazardous substances. In parts of Europe and North America, the
Company is currently obligated to comply with substance restrictions, packaging regulations, energy efficiency ratings and
certain product take-back and recycling requirements. In addition, the Company may be required to comply with emerging
substance restrictions and product take-back requirements in other jurisdictions that would make the Company responsible for
recycling and/or disposing of products the Company has sold. These and other environmental laws may become more stringent
over time, may be required in more places of the Company’s business and may require the Company to incur substantial
compliance costs.
Corporate Responsibility
The Company is committed to operating in a sustainable way that respects the environment, Company employees, the
communities in which the Company operates and the Company’s business partners around the world. Product sustainability
efforts include implementing design for environment principles, material selection processes, energy efficiency and packaging
assessments, as well as product take back programs. In addition, the Company engages with its suppliers to conduct due
diligence into the source and chain of custody of the so-called “conflict minerals” (minerals that are mined in conflict-affected
regions of the world) that are necessary to the functionality or production of the Company's hardware products.
The Company has formalized a number of policies to reflect the Company’s commitment to responsible business practices,
including a Responsible Minerals Policy, and issues a Corporate Responsibility report annually. This report as well as other
documents and policies relating to the Company’s efforts in this area can be viewed on the Company’s website.
Employees
As of February 28, 2015, the Company had 6,225 full-time employees.
Facilities
The Company’s headquarters are located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The Company’s main campus in Waterloo consists of
four leased buildings. The Company also operates facilities in the United States, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle
East and Africa. In fiscal 2015, the Company divested the majority of its Canadian commercial real estate portfolio, as well as
its product development center in Bochum, Germany.
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
The Company is involved in litigation in the normal course of its business, both as a defendant and as a plaintiff. The Company
is subject to a variety of claims (including claims related to patent infringement, purported class actions and other claims in the
normal course of business) and may be subject to additional claims either directly or through indemnities against claims that it
provides to certain of its partners and customers. In particular, the industry in which the Company competes has many
participants that own, or claim to own, intellectual property, including participants that have been issued patents and may have
filed patent applications or may obtain additional patents and proprietary rights for technologies similar to those used by the
Company in its products. The Company has received, and may receive in the future, assertions and claims from third parties
that the Company’s products infringe on their patents or other intellectual property rights. Litigation has been, and will likely
continue to be, necessary to determine the scope, enforceability and validity of third-party proprietary rights or to establish the
Company’s proprietary rights. Regardless of whether claims against the Company have merit, those claims could be time-
consuming to evaluate and defend, result in costly litigation, divert management’s attention and resources, subject the Company
to significant liabilities and could have the other effects that are described in greater detail under “Risk Factors” in this AIF,
including the risk factors entitled “The Company is subject to general commercial litigation, class action and other litigation
claims as part of its operations, and it could suffer significant litigation expenses in defending these claims and could be subject
to significant damage awards or other remedies”, “The Company is subject to potential litigation claims arising from the
Company's disclosure practices”, and “The Company may infringe on the intellectual property rights of others”.
Management reviews all of the relevant facts for each claim and applies judgment in evaluating the likelihood and, if
applicable, the amount of any potential loss. Where a potential loss is considered probable and the amount is reasonably
estimable, provisions for loss are made based on management’s assessment of the likely outcome. Where a range of loss can be
reasonably estimated with no best estimate in the range, the Company records the minimum amount in the range. The