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58
Note 7—COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Commitments
We have entered into non-cancellable operating, capital, and finance leases for equipment and office, fulfillment,
sortation, delivery, data center, and renewable energy facilities. Rental expense under operating lease agreements was $1.1
billion, $961 million, and $759 million for 2015, 2014, and 2013.
The following summarizes our principal contractual commitments, excluding open orders for purchases that support
normal operations, as of December 31, 2015 (in millions):
Year Ended December 31,
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Thereafter Total
Debt principal and interest $ 526 $ 1,322 $ 310 $ 1,272 $ 246 $ 9,157 $ 12,833
Capital lease obligations, including interest 3,128 2,521 1,277 304 139 83 7,452
Finance lease obligations, including
interest 166 168 172 176 178
1,530 2,390
Operating leases 1,181 897 800 698 616 2,325 6,517
Unconditional purchase obligations (1) 614 547 399 166 43 13 1,782
Other commitments (2) (3) 851 273 188 132 86 1,112 2,642
Total commitments $ 6,466 $ 5,728 $ 3,146 $ 2,748 $ 1,308 $ 14,220 $ 33,616
___________________
(1) Includes unconditional purchase obligations related to long-term agreements to acquire and license digital media content
that are not reflected on the consolidated balance sheets. For those agreements with variable terms, we do not estimate the
total obligation beyond any minimum quantities and/or pricing as of the reporting date. Purchase obligations associated
with renewal provisions solely at the option of the content provider are included to the extent such commitments are fixed
or a minimum amount is specified.
(2) Includes the estimated timing and amounts of payments for rent and tenant improvements associated with build-to-suit
lease arrangements that have not been placed in service and digital media content liabilities associated with long-term
digital media content assets with initial terms greater than one year.
(3) Excludes $1.2 billion of tax contingencies for which we cannot make a reasonably reliable estimate of the amount and
period of payment, if any.
Pledged Assets
As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, we have pledged or otherwise restricted $418 million and $602 million of our cash,
cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and certain property and equipment as collateral for standby and trade letters of
credit, guarantees, debt relating to certain international operations, real estate leases, and amounts due to third-party sellers in
certain jurisdictions.
Suppliers
During 2015, no vendor accounted for 10% or more of our purchases. We generally do not have long-term contracts or
arrangements with our vendors to guarantee the availability of merchandise, particular payment terms, or the extension of credit
limits.
Legal Proceedings
The Company is involved from time to time in claims, proceedings, and litigation, including the following:
In November 2007, an Austrian copyright collection society, Austro-Mechana, filed lawsuits against Amazon.com
International Sales, Inc., Amazon EU S.à r.l., Amazon.de GmbH, Amazon.com GmbH, and Amazon Logistik in the
Commercial Court of Vienna, Austria and in the District Court of Munich, Germany seeking to collect a tariff on blank digital
media sold by our EU-based retail websites to customers located in Austria. In July 2008, the German court stayed the German
case pending a final decision in the Austrian case. In July 2010, the Austrian court ruled in favor of Austro-Mechana and
ordered us to report all sales of products to which the tariff potentially applies for a determination of damages. We contested
Austro-Mechana’s claim and in September 2010 commenced an appeal in the Commercial Court of Vienna. We lost this appeal
and in March 2011 commenced an appeal in the Supreme Court of Austria. In October 2011, the Austrian Supreme Court
referred the case to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”). In July 2013, the ECJ ruled that EU law does not preclude
application of the tariff where certain conditions are met and directed the case back to the Austrian Supreme Court for further