coverage available to us. Because we manufacture and sell CEDs, insurance carriers may decide not to insure our products or our company in the future. We incur significant legal expenses in defending these cases, and significant litigation could also result in a diversion of management’s attention and resources, negative publicity and a potential award of monetary damages in excess of our insurance coverage. The outcome of any litigation is inherently uncertain and there can be no assurance that our existing or any future litigation will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.
Other litigation, government inquiries and regulatory actions may subject us to significant costs and judgments and divert management attention from our business.
We have been or could in the future be involved in numerous other litigation, government inquiries and regulatory matters relating to our products, employees, contracts and business relationships, including litigation against persons or entities we believe have infringed on our intellectual property, infringement litigation filed against us, litigation against a competitor, enforcement actions filed against us, and litigation involving the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”).
Such matters have resulted, and are expected to continue to result in, substantial costs to us, including in the form of attorneys’ fees and costs, damages, fines or other penalties, whether pursuant to a judgment or settlement, and diversion of our management’s attention, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or operating results. There is also a risk of adverse judgments, as the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain.
We have been, and may be in the future, subject to intellectual property infringement and other claims, which could incur substantial litigation costs, result in significant damage awards, inhibit our use of certain technologies, and divert management attention from our business.
Many companies own intellectual property rights that are directly or indirectly related to public safety technologies. These companies periodically demand licensing agreements or engage in litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of their patents, trademarks, copyrights, or trade secrets. Non-practicing entities also have patents they have been granted or otherwise acquired, including patents that are directly or indirectly related to public safety technologies. These entities may seek compensation for perceived infringement of their patents, including by filing claims against us, independent of the merit of any such claims. As we enter new markets, expand into new product categories, and otherwise offer new products, services, and technologies, additional intellectual property claims may be filed against us by these companies, entities, and other third parties. Intellectual property claims may also be filed against us as our current products, services, and technologies gain additional market share.
If our products, services, or technologies were found to infringe a third-party’s proprietary rights, we could be forced to discontinue use of the protected technology or enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements in order to be able to sell our products. Such royalty and licensing agreements may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all. We could also be required to pay substantial damages, fines or other penalties, indemnify customers or distributors, cease the manufacture, use, or sale of infringing products or processes, make proprietary source code publicly available, and/or expend significant resources to develop or acquire non-infringing technologies. Our suppliers may not provide, or we may not be able to obtain, intellectual property indemnification sufficient to offset all damages, fines or other penalties resulting from any claims of intellectual property infringement brought against us or our customers. There is no guarantee that our use of conventional technology searching and brand clearance searching will identify all potential rights holders. Rights holders may demand payment for past infringements and/or force us to accept costly license terms or discontinue use of protected technology and/or works of authorship that may include, for example, photos, videos, and software. Our current research and development focus on developing software-based products, including that which is related to artificial intelligence or virtual reality, increases this risk.
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, the value of our brands and products may decrease and we may lose our competitive market advantage.
Our future success depends upon our proprietary technology. Our protective measures for this proprietary technology include patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret protection. However, these protective measures, as well as our efforts to pursue such protective measures, may prove inadequate. For example, the value of intellectual property protection in certain countries may not be apparent until after such protection can no longer be pursued. As such, our intellectual property protection may not extend to all countries in which our products are distributed or will be