Amazon.com 2011 Annual Report Download - page 70

other things, that by offering products including our Kindle e-reader that employ receiver technology designed to
diminish signal leakage Amazon infringes two patents owned by the plaintiff purporting to cover a “Receiver
Comprising A Digitally Controlled Capacitor Bank” (U.S. Patent No. 7,299,018) and a “Communication Device”
(U.S. Patent No. 7,072,614), and seeks monetary damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorneys’ fees. We
dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter.
In September 2011, Droplets, Inc. filed a complaint against us for patent infringement in the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that by offering web
applications and software Amazon infringes two patents owned by the plaintiff purporting to cover a “System
and Method for Delivering a Graphical User Interface of Remote Applications Over a Thin Client” (U.S. Patent
No. 6,687,745) and a “System and Method for Delivering Remotely Stored Graphics and Information” (U.S.
Patent No. 7,502,838), and seeks monetary damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorneys’ fees. We dispute the
allegations of wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter.
In September 2011, Execware, LLC filed a complaint against us for patent infringement in the United States
District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaint alleges, among other things, that by rapidly formatting
and reformatting tabular displays of records, such as product listings on our websites, Amazon infringes a patent
owned by the plaintiff purporting to cover an “Integrated Dialog Box for Rapidly Altering Presentation of
Parametric Text Data Objects on a Computer Display” (U.S. Patent No. 6,216,139), and seeks monetary
damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorneys’ fees. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to
vigorously defend ourselves in this matter.
In September 2011, Select Retrieval, Inc. filed complaints against us and one of our subsidiaries for patent
infringement in the United States District Courts for the District of Oregon and the District of Delaware. The
complaints allege, among other things, that certain aspects of our websites’ technology infringe a patent owned
by the plaintiff purporting to cover “Data Display Software with Actions and Links Integrated with Information”
(U.S. Patent No. 6,128,617), and seek monetary damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorneys’ fees. In
December 2011, the plaintiff dismissed all claims against us with prejudice.
In September 2011, LVL Patent Group, LLC filed three complaints against us for patent infringement in the
United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaints allege, among other things, that certain
aspects of our technology, including our mobile applications, infringe four patents owned by the plaintiff
purporting to cover a “Telephone/Transaction Entry Device and System for Entering Transaction Data into
Databases (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,805,676; 5,987,103; and 8,019,060) and a “Data Transaction Assembly Server”
(U.S. Patent No. 6,044,382), and seeks monetary damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorneys’ fees. We
dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter.
In October 2011, Smartphone Technologies LLC filed a complaint against us for patent infringement in the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that
certain aspects of our Kindle devices infringe five patents owned by the plaintiff purporting to cover a “Power-
Conserving Intuitive Device Discovery Technique In A Bluetooth Environment” (U.S. Patent No. 6,950,645); a
“Handheld Computer System That Attempts To Establish An Alternative Network Link Upon Failing To Establish
A Requested Network Link” (U.S. Patent No. 7,506,064); a “Method And Apparatus For Communicating
Information Over Low Bandwidth Communications Networks” (U.S. Patent No. RE 40,459); a “Method For
Controlling A Handheld Computer By Entering Commands Onto A Displayed Feature Of The Handheld
Computer” (U.S. Patent No. 6,956,562); and a “System and Method For Displaying And Manipulating Multiple
Calendars On A Personal Digital Assistant” (U.S. Patent No. 6,466,236). In December 2011, we entered into a
settlement of the litigation that included, among other things, a payment to the plaintiff and a non-exclusive patent
license agreement. The settlement was not material to either the current or future years.
We cannot predict the impact (if any) that any of the matters described above may have on our business,
results of operations, financial position, or cash flows. Because of the inherent uncertainties of such matters,
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