Orbitz 2008 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Marketing
We utilize a combination of online and traditional offline marketing strategies. Our sales and marketing efforts primarily focus on increasing brand
awareness and driving visitors to our websites. Our long-term success will depend on our ability to continue to increase the overall number of booked
transactions in a cost-effective manner.
We use various forms of online marketing to drive traffic to our websites, including search engine marketing, display advertising, affiliate programs and
email marketing. We also generate traffic and transactions from certain meta-search travel websites. We are actively pursuing tactics to optimize the results of
our online marketing efforts by increasing the value from existing traffic and by acquiring additional traffic that is more targeted and cost effective. These tactics
include pay-per-click optimization and search optimization efforts, loyalty programs and email marketing that targets customers with specific offers that
correspond to their particular interests. We also use traditional broadcast advertising such as television, radio and print to focus on brand differentiation and to
emphasize certain distinct features of our businesses that we believe are valuable to our customers.
We also have a dedicated marketing team that focuses on generating leads and building relationships with corporate travel managers. Our sales team
includes experienced corporate travel managers and is well qualified to assist corporations in choosing between the variety of flexible and scalable corporate
booking products that are offered under our Orbitz for Business brand.
Intellectual Property
We regard our technology and other intellectual property, including our brands, as a critical part of our business. We protect our intellectual property rights
through a combination of copyright, trademark and patent laws and trade secret and confidentiality procedures. We have a number of trademarks, service marks
and trade names that are registered or for which we have pending registration applications or common law rights. These include Orbitz, Orbitz Matrix, Flex
Search, OrbitzTLC, OrbitzTLC Mobile Access, the Orbitz design and the stylized "O." We have two issued U.S. patents. One patent relates to a system and
method for receiving and loading fare and schedule data that allows us to search for fares and book air segments. This patent is scheduled to expire on
November 10, 2024. The second patent relates to a method of searching for travel products from multiple suppliers and creating vacation packages. This patent is
scheduled to expire on April 18, 2020. In addition, we have 19 pending patent applications in the U.S. Through these patent applications, we are seeking patent
rights in several areas of our online travel services technology. These areas include technology related to our process for receiving and loading flight and
schedule information, our process for synchronizing passenger name and record data, our travel update messaging system, our matrix display system, our
supplier link and related booking technology, our system for searching for itineraries based on flexible travel dates, our Deal Detector functionality, and our
process for providing an exit window on the user's computer.
Despite these efforts and precautions, we cannot be certain that any of these patent applications will result in issued patents, or that we will receive any
effective protection from competition from any trademarks and issued patents. It may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our trade
secrets or our intellectual property without authorization. In that case, legal remedies may not adequately compensate us for the damages caused by unauthorized
use. Further, others may independently and lawfully develop substantially similar properties. See Item 1A, "Risk Factors."
From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of our business, including claims of alleged infringement by us
of the trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties. In addition, we may have to initiate lawsuits in the future to enforce
our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any such litigation,
regardless of outcome or merit,
7
Source: Orbitz Worldwide, In, 10-K/A, August 28, 2008