The Hartford 2015 Annual Report Download - page 28

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We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and may be subject to infringement claims.
We rely on a combination of contractual rights and copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws to establish and protect our
intellectual property. Although we use a broad range of measures to protect our intellectual property rights, third parties may infringe or
misappropriate our intellectual property. We may have to litigate to enforce and protect our copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets
and know-how or to determine their scope, validity or enforceability, which represents a diversion of resources that may be significant in
amount and may not prove successful. The loss of intellectual property protection or the inability to secure or enforce the protection of
our intellectual property assets could have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to compete. We also may be subject
to costly litigation in the event that another party alleges our operations or activities infringe upon their intellectual property rights. Third
parties may have, or may eventually be issued, patents that could be infringed by our products, systems, methods, processes or services.
Any party that holds such a patent could make a claim of infringement against us. We may be subject to patent claims from certain
individuals and companies who have acquired patent portfolios for the sole purpose of asserting such claims against other companies.
We may also be subject to claims by third parties for breach of copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or license usage rights. Any
such claims and any resulting litigation could result in significant liability for damages. If we were found to have infringed a third-party
patent or other intellectual property rights, we could incur substantial liability, and in some circumstances could be enjoined from
providing certain products or services to our customers or utilizing and benefiting from certain methods, processes, systems, copyrights,
trademarks, trade secrets or licenses, or alternatively could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with third parties, all
of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.