Dollar General 2010 Annual Report Download - page 87

10-K
Our Trademarks
We own marks that are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and are
protected under applicable intellectual property laws, including without limitation the trademarks
Dollar General↧, Dollar General Market↧, Clover Valley↧, DG↧, DG Guarantee↧, Smart & Simple↧,
trueliving↧, Sweet Smiles↧ and the Dollar General price point designs, along with variations and
formatives of these trademarks as well as certain other trademarks. We attempt to obtain registration
of our trademarks whenever practicable and to pursue vigorously any infringement of those marks. Our
trademark registrations have various expiration dates; however, assuming that the trademark
registrations are properly renewed, they have a perpetual duration.
We also hold licenses to use various trademarks owned by third parties, including an exclusive
license to the Bobbie Brooks brand for clothing through March 31, 2011, with the option to renew such
license on a year-to-year basis, a license to the Fisher Price brand for certain items of children’s
clothing through December 31, 2013, and an exclusive license to the Rexall brand through March 5,
2020.
Available Information
Our Web site address is www.dollargeneral.com. We file with or furnish to the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the ‘‘SEC’’) annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q,
current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, proxy statements and annual reports to
shareholders, and, from time to time, registration statements and other documents. These documents
are available free of charge to investors on or through the Investor Information portion of our Web site
as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with or furnish them to the SEC. In
addition, the public may read and copy any of the materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public
Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington DC 20549. The public may obtain information on
the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC
maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other
information regarding issuers, such as Dollar General, that file electronically with the SEC. The address
of that Web site is http://www.sec.gov.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider the risks described below and the other information contained in this
report and other filings that we make from time to time with the SEC, including our consolidated
financial statements and accompanying notes. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely
affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. In addition, the risks described
below are not the only risks we face. Our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity
could also be adversely affected by additional factors that apply to all companies generally, as well as
other risks that are not currently known to us or that we currently view to be immaterial. While we
attempt to mitigate known risks to the extent we believe to be practicable and reasonable, we can
provide no assurance, and we make no representation, that our mitigation efforts will be successful.
Current economic conditions and other economic factors may adversely affect our financial performance
and other aspects of our business.
We believe that many of our customers are on fixed or low incomes and generally have limited
discretionary spending dollars. A further slowdown in the economy, or a delayed recovery, or other
economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income, such as increased unemployment or
underemployment levels, inflation, increases in fuel or other energy costs and interest rates, lack of
available credit, consumer debt levels, higher tax rates and other changes in tax laws, and further
erosion in consumer confidence, may adversely affect our business by reducing our customers’ spending
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