Dish Network 2003 Annual Report Download - page 25

20
PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS
Many entities, including some of our competitors, have or may in the future obtain patents and other intellectual
property rights that cover or affect products or services 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 may be required to
cease developing or marketing those products, to obtain licenses from the holders of the intellectual property, or to
redesign those products in such a way as to avoid infringing the patent claims. If those intellectual property rights
are held by a competitor, we may be unable to obtain the intellectual property at any price, which could adversely
affect our competitive position.
We may not be aware of all 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, our products may infringe claims contained in pending patent applications of which we are not aware.
Further, the process of determining definitively whether a claim of infringement is valid often involves expensive
and protracted litigation, even if we are ultimately successful on the merits.
We cannot estimate the extent to which we may be required in the future to obtain intellectual property licenses or
the availability and cost of any such licenses. Those costs, and their impact on net income, could be material.
Damages in patent infringement cases may also include treble damages in certain circumstances. To the extent that
we are required to pay unanticipated royalties to third parties, these increased costs of doing business could
negatively affect our liquidity and operating results. We are currently defending patent infringement actions. We
cannot be certain the courts will conclude these companies 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. See “Item 3 - Legal Proceedings.”
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS
We are subject to the requirements of federal, state, local and foreign environmental and occupational safety and
health laws and regulations. These include laws regulating air emissions, water discharge and waste management.
We attempt to maintain compliance with all such requirements. We do not expect capital or other expenditures for
environmental compliance to be material in 2004 or 2005. Environmental requirements are complex, change
frequently and have become more stringent over time. Accordingly, we cannot provide assurance that these
requirements will not change or become more stringent in the future in a manner that could have a material adverse
effect on our business.
SEGMENT REPORTING DATA AND GEOGRAPHIC AREA DATA
For operating segment and principal geographic area data for 2003, 2002 and 2001 see Note 11 in the Notes to the
Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
EMPLOYEES
We had approximately 15,000 employees at December 31, 2003, most of whom are located in the United States. We
generally consider relations with our employees to be good.
Although a total of approximately 100 employees in three of our field offices have voted to unionize, we are not
currently a party to any collective bargaining agreements. However, we are currently negotiating collective
bargaining agreements at these offices.