Hasbro 2015 Annual Report Download - page 20

Employees
At December 27, 2015, we employed approximately 5,000 persons worldwide, approximately 2,500 of
whom were located in the United States.
Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents
We seek to protect our products, for the most part, and in as many countries as practical, through registered
trademarks, copyrights and patents to the extent that such protection is available, cost effective, and meaningful.
The loss of such rights concerning any particular product is unlikely to result in significant harm to our business,
although the loss of such protection for a number of significant items might have such an effect.
Government Regulation
Our toy and game products sold in the United States are subject to the provisions of The Consumer Product
Safety Act, as amended by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, (as amended, the “CPSA”),
The Federal Hazardous Substances Act (the “FHSA”), The Flammable Fabrics Act (the “FFA”), and the
regulations promulgated thereunder. In addition, a few of our products, such as the food mixes for our EASY-
BAKE ovens, are also subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.
The CPSA empowers the Consumer Product Safety Commission (the “CPSC”) to take action against
hazards presented by consumer products, including the formulation and implementation of regulations and
uniform safety standards. The CPSC has the authority to seek to declare a product “a banned hazardous
substance” under the CPSA and to ban it from commerce. The CPSC can file an action to seize and condemn an
“imminently hazardous consumer product” under the CPSA and may also order equitable remedies such as
recall, replacement, repair or refund for the product. The FHSA provides for the repurchase by the manufacturer
of articles that are banned.
Consumer product safety laws also exist in some states and cities within the United States and in many
international markets including Canada, Australia and Europe. We utilize independent third party laboratories
that employ testing and other procedures intended to maintain compliance with the CPSA, the FHSA, the FFA,
other applicable domestic and international product standards, and our own standards. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, there can be no assurance that our products are or will be hazard free. Any material product recall or
other safety issue impacting our product could have an adverse effect on our results of operations or financial
condition, depending on the product and scope of the recall, could damage our reputation and could negatively
affect sales of our other products as well.
The Children’s Television Act of 1990 and the rules promulgated thereunder by the United States Federal
Communications Commission, the rules and regulations of the Federal Trade Commission, as well as the laws of
certain other countries, also place limitations on television commercials during children’s programming and on
advertising in other forms to children, and on the collection of information from children, such as restrictions on
collecting information from children under the age of thirteen subject to the provisions of the Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act.
We maintain programs to comply with various United States federal, state, local and international
requirements relating to the environment, health, safety and other matters.
Financial Information about Segments and Geographic Areas
The information required by this item is included in note 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this report and is incorporated herein by reference.
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