Overstock.com 2012 Annual Report Download - page 15

Table of Contents
to significant damages, associated costs, or equitable remedies relating to the operation of our business and the sale of products on our Website. Any
such litigation may materially harm our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.
These and other types of claims could result in increased costs of doing business through legal expenses, adverse judgments or settlements or
require us to change our business practices in expensive and significant ways. In addition, litigation could result in interpretations of the law that require
us to change our business practices or otherwise increase our costs.
Additional litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the
validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Any litigation, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of
management and technical resources, any of which could materially harm our business (see Item 1A—"Risk Factors").
For further information, see the information set forth under Item 15 of Part IV, "Financial Statements—Note 13—Commitments and
Contingencies, subheading Legal Proceedings," contained in the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Our services are subject to federal and state consumer protection laws including laws protecting the privacy of consumer information and
regulations prohibiting unfair and deceptive trade practices. In particular, under federal and state financial privacy laws and regulations, we must provide
notice to consumers of our policies on sharing non-public information with third parties, advance notice of any changes to our policies and, with limited
exceptions, we must give consumers the right to prevent sharing of their non-public personal information with unaffiliated third parties. Further, the
growth and demand for online commerce could result in more stringent consumer protection laws that impose additional compliance burdens on online
companies. These consumer protection laws could result in substantial compliance costs.
New disclosure and reporting requirements, established under existing or new state or federal laws, such as rules regarding requirements to
identify the origin and existence of certain "conflict minerals" or regarding the disclosure of abusive labor practices in portions of our supply chain,
could increase the cost of doing business, adversely affecting our results of operations.
In many states, there is currently great uncertainty whether or how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other
taxes, libel and personal privacy apply to the Internet and commercial online services. In addition, new state tax regulations in states where we do not
now collect state and local taxes may subject us to the obligation to collect and remit state and local taxes, or subject us to additional state and local sales
and income taxes, or to requirements intended to assist states with their tax collection efforts. New legislation or regulation, the application of laws and
regulations from jurisdictions whose laws do not currently apply to our business or the application of existing laws and regulations to the Internet and
commercial online services could result in significant additional taxes on our business. These taxes or tax collection obligations could have an adverse
effect on our cash flows and results of operations. Further, there is a possibility that we may be subject to significant fines or other payments for any
past failures to comply with these requirements.
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At December 31, 2012, we had approximately 1,300 full-time employees. We seasonally augment our workforce with temporary employees
during our fourth quarter to handle increased workload in both our warehouse and customer service operations. We have never had a work stoppage,
and none of our employees are represented by a labor union. We consider our employee relationships to be good.
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