Intel 2008 Annual Report Download - page 25

Table of Contents
We may not be able to enforce or protect our intellectual property rights, which may harm our ability to compete and harm
our business.
Our ability to enforce our patents, copyrights, software licenses, and other intellectual property rights is subject to general
litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the enforceability of our intellectual property rights in various countries. When we
seek to enforce our rights, we are often subject to claims that the intellectual property right is invalid, is otherwise not
enforceable, or is licensed to the party against whom we are asserting a claim. In addition, our assertion of intellectual property
rights often results in the other party seeking to assert alleged intellectual property rights of its own against us. If we are not
ultimately successful in defending ourselves against these claims in litigation, we may not be able to sell a particular product
or family of products due to an injunction, or we may have to pay damages that could, in turn, harm our results of operations.
In addition, governments may adopt regulations or courts may render decisions requiring compulsory licensing of intellectual
property to others, or governments may require that products meet specified standards that serve to favor local companies. Our
inability to enforce our intellectual property rights under these circumstances may harm our competitive position and our
business.
Our licenses with other companies and our participation in industry initiatives may allow other companies, including our
competitors, to use our patent rights.
Companies in the semiconductor industry often rely on the ability to license patents from each other in order to compete.
Many of our competitors have broad licenses or cross-
licenses with us, and under current case law, some of these licenses may
permit these competitors to pass our patent rights on to others. If one of these licensees becomes a foundry, our competitors
might be able to avoid our patent rights in manufacturing competing products. In addition, our participation in industry
initiatives may require us to license our patents to other companies that adopt certain industry standards or specifications, even
when such organizations do not adopt standards or specifications proposed by us. As a result, our patents implicated by our
participation in industry initiatives might not be available for us to enforce against others who might otherwise be deemed to
be infringing those patents, our costs of enforcing our licenses or protecting our patents may increase, and the value of our
intellectual property may be impaired.
Changes in our decisions with regard to restructuring and efficiency efforts, and other factors, could affect our results of
operations and financial condition.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations with regard to restructuring actions include:
In order to compete, we must attract, retain, and motivate key employees, and our failure to do so could harm our results of
operations.
In order to compete, we must attract, retain, and motivate executives and other key employees. Hiring and retaining qualified
executives, scientists, engineers, technical staff, and sales representatives are critical to our business, and competition for
experienced employees in the semiconductor industry can be intense. To help attract, retain, and motivate qualified employees,
we use share-based incentive awards such as employee stock options and non-vested share units (restricted stock units). If the
value of such stock awards does not appreciate as measured by the performance of the price of our common stock, or if our
share-based compensation otherwise ceases to be viewed as a valuable benefit, our ability to attract, retain, and motivate
employees could be weakened, which could harm our results of operations.
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timing and execution of plans and programs that may be subject to local labor law requirements, including consultation
with appropriate work councils;
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changes in assumptions related to severance and postretirement costs;
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future dispositions;
•
new business initiatives and changes in product roadmap, development, and manufacturing;
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changes in employment levels and turnover rates;
• changes in product demand and the business environment, including changes related to the current uncertainty in
global economic conditions; and
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changes in the fair value of certain long
-
lived assets.