Vistaprint 2009 Annual Report Download - page 22

‰develop other technology not subject to infringement claims, which could be time-consuming
and costly or may not be possible; and/or
‰license technology from the third party claiming infringement, which license may not be
available on commercially reasonable terms.
Similarly, companies or individuals with whom we currently have a business relationship, or have
had a past business relationship, may commence an action seeking rights in one or more of our
patents or pending patent applications. If such companies or individuals were to be successful in
obtaining such rights, the company or individual may be able to use that patented technology, or
license it to others, without paying compensation to us.
The occurrence of any of the foregoing could result in unexpected expenses or require us to
recognize an impairment of our assets, which would reduce the value of our assets and increase
expenses. In addition, if we alter or discontinue our production of affected items, our revenue could be
negatively impacted.
We have commenced in the past, and we expect to commence again in the future, litigation
against third parties to enforce patents issued to us or to determine the scope and validity of third-party
proprietary rights. For instance, in May 2007, we filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Minnesota
alleging infringement by 123Print, Inc. and Drawing Board (US), Inc. of certain U.S. patents owned by
us, and since that time have expanded the lawsuit to include Taylor Strategic Accounts, Inc., a related
party to 123Print, Inc. and Drawing Board (US), Inc., as an additional defendant. Similarly, in July 2006
we brought litigation in the Dusseldorf Germany District Court alleging infringement by print24 GmbH
and unitedprint.com AG of a German patent owned by us.
Our ability to enforce our patents, copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property is
subject to general litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the enforceability of our intellectual
property rights in various countries. When we seek to enforce our rights, we may be and have been
subject to claims that the intellectual property right is invalid, is otherwise not enforceable, or is
licensed to the party against whom we are asserting a claim. In addition, our assertion of intellectual
property rights could result in the other party seeking to assert alleged intellectual property rights of its
own against us, which may adversely impact our business in the manner discussed above. If we are
not ultimately successful in defending ourselves against these claims in litigation, we may not be able
to use or provide a particular service or technology or sell a particular product or family of products,
due to an injunction, or we may have to pay material amounts of damages, which could in turn
negatively affect our results of operations. Even if we are successful in our initial litigation efforts,
rulings in our favor may be overturned in the future in a court of appeals. Our inability to enforce our
intellectual property rights under these circumstances may negatively impact our competitive position
and our business.
Our primary brand is “Vistaprint.” We hold trademark registrations for the Vistaprint trademark in
17 jurisdictions, including registrations in our major markets of the United States, the European Union,
Canada, Australia and Japan.
The content of our websites and our downloadable software tools are copyrighted materials
protected under international copyright laws and conventions. These materials are further protected by
the Terms of Use posted on each of our websites, which customers acknowledge and accept during
the purchase process. We currently own or control a number of Internet domain names used in
connection with our various websites, including Vistaprint.com and related names. Most of our
localized sites use local country code domain names, such as Vistaprint.it for our Italian site.
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