Tucows 2014 Annual Report Download - page 27

Any of the foregoing or other factors could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability from
acquired businesses or to realize other anticipated benefits of acquisitions. We may not be able to identify or consummate
any future acquisitions on favorable terms, or at all. If we do effect an acquisition, it is possible that the financial markets
or investors will view the acquisition negatively. Even if we successfully complete an acquisition, it could adversely
affect our business.
Our corporate culture has contributed to our success, and if we cannot maintain this culture as we grow, we could lose
the innovation, creativity and teamwork fostered by our culture, and our business may be harmed.
We believe that a critical contributor to our success has been our corporate culture, which we believe fosters
innovation, creativity and teamwork. As our organization grows and we are required to implement more complex
organizational management structures, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the beneficial aspects of our
corporate culture. This could negatively impact our future success.
Our business depends on a strong brand. If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand, our ability to expand
our customer base will be impaired and our business and operating results will be harmed.
In recognition of the evolving nature of the internet services market and to make it easier to clearly differentiate
each service we offer from our competitors, we enhanced our branding by focusing our service offerings under four
distinct brands namely “OpenSRS”, “YummyNames”, “Hover” and “Ting”. We also believe that maintaining and
enhancing the “Tucows” corporate brand and our service brands is critical to expanding our customer base. We anticipate
that, as our market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brands may become increasingly
difficult and expensive. Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our ability to be a technology
leader providing high quality products and services, which we may not do successfully. To date, we have engaged in
relatively little direct brand promotion activities. This enhances the risk that we may not successfully implement brand
enhancement efforts in the future.
If we fail to protect our proprietary rights, the value of those rights could be diminished.
We rely upon copyright, trade secret and trademark law, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, invention
assignment agreements and work-for-hire agreements to protect our proprietary technology, all of which offer only
limited protection. We cannot ensure that our efforts to protect our proprietary information will be adequate to protect
against infringement and misappropriation by third parties, particularly in foreign countries where laws or law
enforcement practices may not protect proprietary rights as fully as in the United States of America and Canada.
We have licensed, and may in the future license, some of our trademarks and other proprietary rights to others.
Third parties may also reproduce or use our intellectual property rights without seeking a license and thus benefit from
our technology without paying for it. Third parties could also independently develop technology, processes or other
intellectual property that are similar to or superior to those used by us. Actions by licensees, misappropriation of the
intellectual property rights or independent development by others of similar or superior technology might diminish the
value of our proprietary rights or damage our reputation.
The unauthorized reproduction or other misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, including copying
the look, feel and functionality of our website could enable third parties to benefit from our technology without us
receiving any compensation. The enforcement of our intellectual property rights may depend on our taking legal action
against these infringing parties, and we cannot be sure that these actions will be successful.
Because of the global nature of the Internet, our websites can be viewed worldwide. However, we do not have
intellectual property protection in every jurisdiction. Furthermore, effective trademark, service mark, copyright and trade
secret protection may not be available in every country in which our services become available over the Internet. In
addition, the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights
in Internet-related industries are uncertain and still evolving.
Page 2
7
of 20
2
tcx20141231_10k.ht
m
9
/
13
/
201
6
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/909494/000143774915004707/tcx20141231_10...