Support.com 2007 Annual Report Download - page 31

We rely upon patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets to protect our proprietary rights and if these rights are not sufficiently protected, it
could harm our ability to compete and to generate revenue.
We rely on a combination of laws, such as those applicable to patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, and contractual restrictions, such as
confidentiality agreements and licenses, to establish and protect our proprietary rights. Our ability to compete and grow our business could suffer if these rights
are not adequately protected. Our proprietary rights may not be adequately protected because:
•
laws and contractual restrictions may not adequately prevent misappropriation of our technologies or deter others from developing similar
technologies; and
•
policing unauthorized use of our products and trademarks is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and we may be unable to determine
the existence or extent of this unauthorized use.
Also, the laws of other countries in which we market our products may offer little or no protection of our proprietary technologies. Reverse engineering,
unauthorized copying or other misappropriation of our proprietary technologies could enable third parties to benefit from our technologies without paying us for
them, which would harm our competitive position and market share.
We may face intellectual property infringement claims that could be costly to defend and result in our loss of significant rights.
Our business relies upon the use and licensing of technology and software. Other parties may assert intellectual property infringement claims against us or
our customers, and our products may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties. For example, our products may infringe issued patents that may
relate to our products. In addition, as is increasingly common in the software industry, we may be confronted with the aggressive enforcement of patents by
companies whose primary business activity is to acquire patents for the purpose of offensively asserting them against other companies. From time to time, we
have received allegations of intellectual property infringement, and we may receive more claims in the future. Intellectual property litigation is expensive and
time-consuming and could divert management's attention from our business. The outcome of any litigation is uncertain and could significantly impact our
financial results. If there is a successful claim of infringement, we may be required to develop non-infringing technology or enter into royalty or license
agreements, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. Our failure to develop non-infringing technologies or license proprietary rights on a timely
basis would harm our business.
If the growth of demand for digital services does not continue, our ability to increase our revenue could suffer.
Our ability to increase our revenue will depend in part on increased demand for digital services such as high speed data, video over DSL and VoIP. If this
demand does not grow as rapidly or to the extent we anticipate, our business could suffer. The growth of digital services is uncertain and will depend in particular
upon the availability, at a reasonable price, of such digital services, the building of infrastructure to support such services, the availability of competitive
products, and the reliability of such services.
We may experience a decrease in market demand due to uncertain economic conditions in the United States and in international markets, which has
been further exacerbated by the concerns of terrorism, war and social and political instability.
The United States and international economies have in the past experienced periods of slow economic growth and this could occur again. In addition,
terrorist attacks in the United States and
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Source: SUPPORTSOFT INC, 10-K, March 13, 2008