Cricket Wireless 2011 Annual Report Download - page 25

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The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, prohibits the circumvention of technological measures
employed to protect a copyrighted work, or access control. However, under the DMCA, the Copyright Office of
the Library of Congress, or the Copyright Office, has the authority to exempt for three years certain activities
from copyright liability that otherwise might be prohibited by that statute. In July 2010, the Copyright Office
granted an exemption to the DMCA to allow circumvention of software locks and other firmware that prohibit a
wireless handset from connecting to a wireless network when such circumvention is accomplished for the sole
purpose of lawfully connecting the wireless handset to another wireless telephone network. The DMCA
copyright exemption facilitates our current practice of allowing customers to bring in unlocked, or “reflashed,”
phones that they already own and may have used with another wireless carrier, and activate them on our network.
To the extent that the Copyright Office determines in the future not to extend this exemption for an extended
period of time and this prevents us from “flashing” devices or activating “reflashed” devices on our network, this
could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We cannot assure you that any federal, state or local regulatory requirements currently applicable to our
systems will not be changed in the future or that regulatory requirements will not be adopted in those states and
localities that currently have none. Such changes could impose new obligations on us that could adversely affect
our operating results.
Privacy
We are obligated to comply with a variety of federal and state privacy and consumer protection
requirements. The Communications Act and FCC rules, for example, impose various rules on us intended to
protect against the disclosure of customer proprietary network information. Other FCC and Federal Trade
Commission rules regulate the disclosure and sharing of subscriber information. We have developed and comply
with a policy designed to protect the privacy of our customers and their personal information. State legislatures
and regulators are considering imposing additional requirements on companies to further protect the privacy of
wireless customers. Our need to comply with these rules, and to address complaints by subscribers invoking
them, could adversely affect our operating results.
Intellectual Property
We have pursued registration of our primary trademarks and service marks in the United States. Leap is a
U.S. registered trademark and the Leap logo is a trademark of Leap. Cricket, Cricket Wireless, Cricket Clicks,
Muve Music, MyPerks, Flex Bucket, Real Unlimited Unreal Savings and the Cricket “K” are U.S. registered
trademarks of Cricket. In addition, the following are trademarks or service marks of Cricket: BridgePay, Cricket
By Week, Cricket Choice, Cricket Connect, Cricket Nation, Cricket PAYGo, Muve, Muve Money, Muve First,
Muve Headline, Cricket Crosswave, Seek Music, Cricket MyPerks and Cricket Wireless Internet Service. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
We also have several patents and have several patent applications pending in the United States relating to
telecommunications and related services. However, our business is not substantially dependent upon any of our
patents or patent applications. We believe that our technical expertise, operational efficiency, industry-leading
cost structure and ability to introduce new products in a timely manner are more critical to maintaining our
competitive position in the future.
Availability of Public Reports
As soon as is reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and
Exchange Commission, or SEC, our proxy statements, Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, are available free of charge at
www.leapwireless.com. They are also available free of charge on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition,
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