Dish Network 2000 Annual Report Download - page 22

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PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS
Many entities, including some of our competitors, now have and may in the future obtain patents and other
intellectual property rights that cover or affect products or services directly or indirectly related to those that we
offer. In general, if a court determines that one or more of our products infringes on intellectual property held by
others, we would be required to cease developing or marketing those products, to obtain licenses to develop and
market those products from the holders of the intellectual property, or to redesign those products in such a way as to
avoid infringing the patent claims. If a competitor holds intellectual property rights, the entity might be predisposed
to exercise its right to prohibit our use of its intellectual property in our products and services at any price, thus
impacting our competitive position.
We cannot assure you that we are aware of all patents and other intellectual property rights that our
products may potentially infringe. In addition, patent applications in the United States are confidential until the
Patent and Trademark Office issues a patent and, accordingly, we cannot evaluate the extent to which our products
may infringe claims contained in pending patent applications. Further, it is often not possible to determine
definitively whether a claim of infringement is valid, absent protracted litigation.
We cannot estimate the extent to which we may be required in the future to obtain licenses with respect to
patents held by others and the availability and cost of any such licenses. Those costs, and their impact on net
income, could be material. Damages in patent infringement cases can also include a tripling of actual damages in
certain cases. To the extent that we are required to pay royalties to third parties to whom we are not currently
making payments, these increased costs of doing business could negatively affect our liquidity and operating results.
Various parties have asserted patent and other intellectual property rights with respect to components within our
direct broadcast satellite system. We cannot be certain that these persons do not own the rights they claim, that our
products do not infringe on these rights, that we would be able to obtain licenses from these persons on
commercially reasonable terms or, if we were unable to obtain such licenses, that we would be able to redesign our
products to avoid infringement. We are currently involved in several patent infringement actions. Among other
things, TV Guide/Gemstar has asserted that we are required to obtain licenses for patents they own at rates which
would require us to pay them over $100 million for past satellite receiver sales. Gemstar also asserts tens of millions
more in royalties each year prospectively, together with, among other things, the right to substantially all future
potential on screen programming guide banner advertising revenues.
EMPLOYEES
We had approximately 11,000 employees at December 31, 2000, most of whom are located in the United
States. We are not a party to any collective bargaining agreement and generally consider relations with our employees
to be good.