Orbitz 2014 Annual Report Download - page 9

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9
We have dedicated marketing teams that focus on generating leads and building relationships with corporate travel
managers and potential private label partners. Our Orbitz for Business sales team includes experienced corporate travel
managers who are qualified to assist organizations in choosing between the variety of corporate booking products that we offer.
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 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. We currently hold numerous issued United States patents and pending United
States patent applications. We file additional patent applications on new inventions, as appropriate.
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 intellectual property without authorization. In that case, legal
remedies may not adequately compensate us for the damages caused by unauthorized use.
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 or determine the validity
and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any such litigation, regardless of outcome or merit, could consume a
significant amount of financial resources or management time. It could also invalidate or impair our intellectual property rights,
or result in significant damages or onerous license terms and restrictions for us. We may even lose our right to use certain
intellectual property or business processes. These outcomes could materially harm our business. See Item 3, “Legal
Proceedings.”
At the time of the IPO, we entered into a Master License Agreement with Travelport, which grants Travelport licenses to
use certain of our intellectual property going forward, including:
• our supplier link technology;
• portions of ebookers’ booking, search and vacation packaging technologies;
• certain of our products and online booking tools for corporate travel;
• portions of our private label vacation packaging technology; and
• our extranet supplier connectivity functionality.
The Master License Agreement generally includes the right to create derivative works and other improvements. Other
than the unrestricted use of our supplier link technology, Travelport is generally prohibited from sublicensing these
technologies to any third-party for competitive use. However, Travelport and its affiliates are not restricted from using the
technologies to compete directly with us.
Regulation
Our business is subject to laws and regulations relating to our revenue generating and marketing activities, including
those prohibiting unfair and deceptive advertising or practices, consumer protection and data privacy. Our travel services are
subject to regulation and laws governing the offer of travel products and services, including laws requiring us to register as a
“seller of travel” in various jurisdictions and to comply with certain disclosure requirements. As an OTC that offers customers
the ability to book air travel in the United States, we are also subject to regulation by the Department of Transportation, which
has authority to enforce economic regulations and may assess civil penalties or challenge our operating authority. Our services
are also subject to federal, foreign, state and local regulations and we may be required to comply with bonding regulations in
certain foreign jurisdictions. See Item 1A “Risk Factors - Our businesses are regulated and any failure to comply with
applicable regulations or any changes in those regulations could adversely affect us.”
Information about Segments and Geographic Areas
We operate and manage our business as a single operating segment. For geographic related information, see Note 17 -
Segment Information of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.