Xerox 2007 Annual Report Download - page 47

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Xerox Annual Report 2007 45
Patents, trademarks and licenses
We are a technology company. Including our Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
subsidiary, we were awarded 584 U.S. utility patents in 2007. We were ranked 33rd on
the list of companies that were awarded the most U.S. patents during the year and would
have been ranked 27th with the inclusion of PARC patents. Including our research partner,
Fuji Xerox Co., Limited, we were awarded over 900 U.S. utility patents in 2007. Our patent
portfolio evolves as new patents are awarded to us and as older patents expire. As of
December 31, 2007, we held approximately 8,600 design and utility U.S. patents. These
patents expire at various dates up to 20 years or more from their original fi ling dates.
While we believe that our portfolio of patents and applications has value, in general no
single patent is essential to our business or any individual segment. In addition, any of our
proprietary rights could be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented or may not provide
signifi cant competitive advantages.
In the U.S., we are party to numerous patent-licensing agreements and, in a majority
of them, we license or assign our patents to others, in return for revenue and/or access
to their patents. Most of the patent licenses expire concurrently with the expiration of
the last patent identifi ed in the license. In 2007, including our PARC subsidiary, we added
9 agreements to our portfolio of patent licensing agreements, and either we or our PARC
subsidiary was a licensor in 7 of the agreements. We also have a number of cross-licensing
agreements with companies with substantial patent portfolios, including Canon, Microsoft,
IBM, Hewlett Packard, Océ and Sharp. Those agreements vary in subject matter, scope,
compensation, signifi cance and time.
In the U.S., we own approximately 550 trademarks, either registered or applied for. These
trademarks have a perpetual life, subject to renewal every ten years. We vigorously enforce
and protect our trademarks.
Competition
Although we encounter aggressive competition in all areas of our business, we are the
leader or among the leaders in each of our principal business segments. Our competitors
range from large international companies to relatively small fi rms. We compete primarily
on the basis of technology, performance, price, quality, reliability, brand, distribution,
and customer service and support. To remain competitive we invest in and develop new
products and services and continually improve our existing offerings. Our key competitors
include Canon, Ricoh, IKON, Hewlett-Packard, and, in certain areas of the business, Pitney
Bowes, Kodak, Océ, Konica-Minolta and Lexmark. We believe that our brand recognition,
reputation for document knowledge and expertise, innovative technology, breadth of
product offerings, global distribution channels, customer relationships and large customer
base are important competitive advantages. We and our competitors continue to develop
and market new and innovative products at competitive prices, and, at any given time,
we may set new market standards for quality, speed and function.