Priceline 2010 Annual Report Download - page 84

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x legislative or judicial action will not directly or indirectly affect the scope and validity of any of our
patent rights.
There has been recent discussion in the press regarding the examination and issuance of so called “business
method” patents. As a result, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has indicated that it intends to intensify
the review process applicable to such patent applications. The new procedures are not expected to have a direct
effect on patents already granted. We cannot anticipate what effect, if any, the new review process will have on our
pending patent applications. In addition, there has been recent discussion in various federal court proceedings
regarding the patentability and validity of so called “business method” patents. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a recent
decision in Bilski v. Kappos, partially addressed the patentability of so-called business method patents. We cannot
anticipate what effect, if any, any new federal court decision or new legislation will have on our issued patents or
pending patent applications. See “Risk Factors – We face risks related to our intellectual property.”
We hold the exclusive rights to the trade names and service marks PRICELINE® and
PRICELINE.COM® in the U.S. and in many foreign countries. Our global service mark portfolio currently
comprises over 160 service mark registrations. In the U.S., we own U.S. Service Mark Registration No. 2,272,659
for PRICELINE® as well as Nos. 2,481,752 and 2,481,112 for PRICELINE.COM®. We also own U.S. Service
Mark Registrations Nos. 2,647,673 for NAME YOUR OWN PRICE®; 2,481,751 for
PRICELINEMORTGAGE®; 3,357,458 for PRICELINE EUROPE®; and numerous others. Through our subsidiary
Travelweb LLC, we own U. S. Registrations Nos. 2,413,798 and 3,899,961 for TRAVELWEB®. U.S. service mark
registrations Nos. 3,435,703 for LOWESTFARE.COM®; Nos. 2750062 and 3763002 for BREEZENET® and
BREEZENET.COM®; and No. 2,794,403 for BNM.COM® are registered through another subsidiary,
Lowestfare.com LLC.
In addition, we hold European Community Registrations Nos. 3413846 and 3413952 for BOOKINGS®;
No. 5752274 for the BOOKING.COM® Logo; and No. 3859618 for ACTIVE HOTELS®. We also own Benelux
Registrations Nos. 762051 and 762054 and French Registration No. 43276223 for the BOOKINGS® service mark.
We also own French Registration No. 43276225 for BOOKING. Booking.com owns U.S. common law service mark
rights in the BOOKING.COMsm word mark and U.S. Registration No. 3,849,615 for Blue Globe and Suitcase.
We aggressively monitor, protect and enforce our copyrights, service marks, trademarks, trade dress,
domain names and trade secrets on an ongoing basis through a combination of laws and contractual restrictions,
such as confidentiality agreements and affiliate agreements. For example, we endeavor to register, maintain and
enforce our service marks in the United States and internationally, however, effective trademark, service mark,
copyright and trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our services are or may be
made available online, regardless of our continuous efforts to police and register our marks. See, “Risk Factors –We
face risks related to our intellectual property.”
We currently own hundreds of Internet domain names in various top level domains, particularly for
purposes of deterring service mark infringement. Domain names are generally regulated by Internet regulatory
bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization. The relationship between trademark and unfair
competition laws and domain name registration is still evolving. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act
in the U.S. and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy of the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers have both significantly enhanced our ability to deter the infringing registration and use of our
service marks in domain names by third parties and to assert our service mark registrations against them. To
maintain our famous marks and prevent the dilution of their distinctiveness, we actively pursue, in the U.S. and
abroad, significant infringers, including cybersquatters and typosquatters who for commercial purposes
misappropriate our service marks and register misspellings thereof as domain names. See, “Risk Factors – We face
risks related to our intellectual property.”
Governmental Regulation
The services we provide are subject to various federal, state and local regulations. For example, our travel
service is subject to laws governing the offer and/or sale of travel services as well as laws requiring us to register as
a “seller of travel.” In addition, our services may be subject to various state and local taxing regulations. See “Risk
Factors – Uncertainty regarding state and local taxes”.
We are subject to federal, state and international laws that require protection of user privacy and user data.
In our processing of travel transactions, we receive and store a large volume of personally identifiable data, both in