Office Depot 2011 Annual Report Download - page 8

Intellectual Property
We hold trademark registrations domestically and worldwide and have numerous other applications pending
worldwide for the names “Office Depot”, “Viking”, “Ativa”, “Foray”, “Realspace”, and others. We consider the
trademark for the Office Depot name the most significant trademark held by us because of its impact on market
awareness across all of our businesses and on customers’ identification with us. As with all domestic trademarks,
our trademark registrations in the United States are for a ten year period and are renewable every ten years, prior
to their respective expirations, as long as the trademarks are used in the regular course of trade.
Industry and Competition
We operate in a highly competitive environment in all three of our segments. We believe that we compete
favorably on the basis of price, service, relationships and selection. We compete with office supply stores,
wholesale clubs, discount stores, mass merchandisers, food and drug stores, computer and electronics
superstores, internet-based companies and direct marketing companies. These companies, in varying degrees,
compete with us in substantially all of our current markets.
Other office supply retail companies market similarly to us in terms of store format, pricing strategy, product
selection and product availability in the markets where we operate, primarily those in the U.S. We anticipate that
in the future we will face increased competition from these chains.
Internationally, we compete on a similar basis to North America. Outside of the U.S., we sell through contract
and catalog channels in 17 countries and operate retail stores in four countries through wholly-owned or
majority-owned entities. Additionally, our International Division provides office products and services in 41
countries through joint ventures, licensing and franchise agreements, cross-border transactions, alliances and
other arrangements.
Employees
As of January 28, 2012, we had approximately 39,000 employees worldwide. Our workforce is largely non-union
and our labor relations are generally good. In certain international locations, changes in staffing or work
arrangements may need approval of local works councils or other bodies.
Environmental Activities
As both a significant user and seller of paper products, we have developed environmental practices that are
values-based and market-driven. Our environmental initiatives center on three guiding principles: (1) recycling
and pollution reduction; (2) sustainable forest management; and (3) issue awareness and market development for
environmentally preferable products. We offer thousands of different products containing recycled content,
including from 35% to 100% post-consumer waste content paper and technology recycling services in our retail
stores.
Office Depot continues to implement environmental programs in line with our stated environmental vision to
“increasingly buy green, be green and sell green” – including environmental sensitivity in our packaging,
operations and sales offerings. Our ‘Green’ retail store prototype design is based on our Austin, Texas store,
which received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification from the U.S.
Green Building Council in December 2008. In 2010, it awarded our global headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida a
LEED Gold Certification under the Operations and Maintenance rating system and we were the first office
supplies retailer with a headquarters building certified under any of the LEED rating systems. Additional
information on our green product offerings can be found at www.officedepot.com/buygreen.
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