First Data 2013 Annual Report Download - page 10

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The Company owns a global portfolio of many trademarks, trade names, patents and other intellectual property that are important to its future success.
The only intellectual property rights which are individually material to the Company are the FIRST DATA trademark and trade name and the STAR
trademark and trade name. The STAR trademark and trade name are used in the Financial Services segment. The FIRST DATA trademark and trade name
are associated with quality and reliable electronic commerce and payments solutions. Financial institutions and merchants associate the STAR trademark and
trade name with quality and reliable debit network services and processing services. Loss of the proprietary use of the FIRST DATA or STAR trademarks and
trade names or a diminution in the perceived quality associated with these names could harm the growth of the Company’s businesses.
The Company uses a combination of technologies (including proprietary technology and technology obtained from third parties) to provide its products
and services to its customers, and to remain competitive. The Company has various programs and procedures to protect its patents and other intellectual
property rights. The patent protection associated with the Company’s systems and software expires at different times over the next one to 20 years.
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At December 31, 2013, the Company employed approximately 23,000 employees, approximately 97% of which were full-time employees. The majority
of the employees of the Company’s subsidiaries outside of the U.S. are subject to the terms of individual employment agreements. One of the Company’s
wholly owned subsidiaries has approximately 1,600 employees in the United Kingdom, a portion of whom are members of the Unite trade union. Employees
of the Company’s subsidiaries in Vienna, Austria; Frankfurt, Germany; and Nürnberg, Germany are also represented by local works councils. The Vienna
workforce and a portion of the Frankfurt workforce is also covered by a union contract. Certain employees of the Company’s Korean subsidiary are
represented by a Labor-Management council. Employees in certain other countries are also covered by the terms of industry-specific national collective
agreements. None of the Company’s employees are otherwise represented by any labor organization in the U.S. The Company believes that its relations with its
employees and the labor organizations identified above are in good standing.
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FDC’s principal executive offices are located at 5565 Glenridge Connector, N.E., Suite 2000, Atlanta, Georgia 30342, telephone [phone]. The
Company’s annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports are available free of
charge to shareholders and other interested parties through the “Investor Relations” portion of the Company’s web site at http://investor.firstdata.com as soon as
reasonably practical after they are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains a web site, www.sec.gov, which contains
reports and other information filed electronically with the SEC by the Company. The Company’s Audit Committee Charter, Governance, Compensation and
Nominations Committee Charter, Technology and Investment Committee Charter, and Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers are available without
charge through the “About First Data”, “Investor Relations”, “Corporate Governance” portion of the Company’s investor relations web site, listed above, or by
writing to the attention of Investor Relations at the address listed above.
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Refer to Item 10 of this Form 10-K.
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Various aspects of the Company’s service areas are subject to U.S. federal, state and local regulation, as well as regulation outside the U.S. Failure to
comply with regulations may result in the suspension or revocation of licenses or registrations, the limitation, suspension or termination of service, and/or the
imposition of civil and criminal penalties, including fines. Certain of the Company’s services also are subject to rules promulgated by various payment
networks, such as Visa, MasterCard and Discover, as more fully described below.
In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) was signed into law
in the United States. The Dodd-Frank Act has resulted in significant structural and other changes to the regulation of the financial services industry. Among
other things, Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act establishes a new, independent regulatory agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate
consumer financial products and services (including many offered by the Company’s customers). Separately, under Section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Act,
debit interchange transaction fees that a card issuer receives and that are established by a payment card network for an electronic debit transaction are now
regulated by the Federal Reserve Board and must be “reasonable and proportional” to the cost incurred by the card issuer in authorizing, clearing and settling
the transaction. Effective October 1, 2011, the Federal Reserve Board capped debit interchange rates
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