Green Dot 2013 Annual Report Download - page 14

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7
entrants. Our primary competitors in the prepaid card distribution market are: InComm, Blackhawk Network, Inc., First
Data, NetSpend, and American Express. In addition, we face potential competition from Western Union, MoneyGram
and a number of retail banks if they enter this market.
We believe that the principal competitive factors for the prepaid card distribution market include:
• brand recognition with consumers and retailers;
• the ability to easily reload funds;
• ability to develop and maintain strong relationship with retail distributors;
• compliance and regulatory capabilities;
• pricing; and
• large customer base.
We believe our products compete favorably on each of these factors.
Personal Banking Services
With the nationwide launch of GoBank in June 2013, we have expanded into the market for consumer checking
accounts. In this market we compete against a wide range of both traditional and non-traditional banks, including the
largest banks. Many of these banks have greater resources, larger and more diversified customer bases and greater
brand recognition than we do. Many of these banks also have other assets that could give them an advantage, including
broader ranges of product offerings and/or retail branch networks. We believe that our consumer checking account
products will be differentiated by their innovative technological features, innovative distribution model, consumer-
friendly pricing, and branding.
We believe that the principal competitive factors for personal banking services include:
• brand recognition with consumers and distribution partners;
• marketing capabilities;
• product features;
• ability to develop and maintain strong relationship with distributors;
• compliance and regulatory capabilities; and
• pricing.
We believe that our GoBank product competes favorably on each of these factors. However, investments in new
products such as GoBank are speculative. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that GoBank will be adopted by
consumers or otherwise achieve commercial success.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of patent, trademark and copyright laws and trade secret protection in the United States,
as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions, to protect the intellectual property rights related to our
products and services.
We own several trademarks, including Green Dot, MoneyPak, GoBank, and the Green Dot logo. These assets are
essential to our business. Through agreements with our network acceptance members, retail distributors and customers,
we authorize and monitor the use of our trademarks in connection with their activities with us.
Our patent portfolio currently consists of four patents and nine patent applications. The term of the patents we hold
is, on average, twenty years. We feel our patents and applications are essential to our business and help to differentiate
our products and services from those of our competitors.
The industry in which we compete is characterized by rapidly changing technology, a large number of patents, and
frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance
that our patents and other proprietary rights will not be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented; that others will not
assert intellectual property rights to technologies that are relevant to us; or that our rights will give us a competitive
advantage. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent
as the laws of the United States. The risks associated with patents and intellectual property are more fully discussed
in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factors entitled “We must adequately protect our brand and the intellectual