Salesforce.com 2006 Annual Report Download - page 17

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Table of Contents
Our professional services organization competes with a broad range of large systems integrators, including Accenture Ltd., BearingPoint, Inc. and IBM
as well as smaller independent consulting firms specializing in CRM implementations. We have relationships with many of these consulting companies and
frequently work cooperatively on projects with them, even as we compete for business in other customer engagements.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of trademark, copyright, trade secret and patent laws in the United States and other jurisdictions as well as confidentiality
procedures and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary technology and our brand. We also enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights
agreements with our employees, consultants and other third parties and control access to software, documentation and other proprietary information.
As of January 31, 2007, we have 17 pending U.S. patent applications. The majority of our patent applications concern database, application platform
and application exchange infrastructures.
The following are some of our registered trademarks in the U.S. and elsewhere:
salesforce
salesforce.com
"No Software" logo
The End of Software
Success. Not Software
Success. On Demand
Team Edition
Unregistered trademarks we use include:
"Block S" logo
sforce
AppExchange
CRMSuccess
The Business Web
We have received in the past, and may receive in the future, communications from third parties claiming that we have infringed on the intellectual
property rights of others. Any intellectual property claims, regardless of merit, may require us to seek licenses to that technology. In addition, we license third-
party technologies that are incorporated into some elements of our services. Licenses from third-party technologies may not continue to be available to us at a
reasonable cost, or at all. Additionally, the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate. Third parties may infringe or
misappropriate our proprietary rights. Competitors may also independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to the
technologies we employ in our services. If we fail to protect our proprietary rights adequately, our competitors could offer similar services, potentially
significantly harming our competitive position and decreasing our revenues.
Employees
As of January 31, 2007, we had 2,070 employees. We plan to hire additional personnel, particularly in customer-related areas, for the foreseeable future
as we continue to execute on our growth plan.
We believe our future success and growth will depend on our ability to attract and retain qualified employees in all areas of our business. None of our
employees is represented by a labor union. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good. However, we face competition for qualified
employees, and we expect to face continuing challenges in recruiting and retention.
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