| Litigation, Contingencies, and Commitments | Litigation, Contingencies, and Commitments Litigation Hewlett Packard Enterprise is involved in various lawsuits, claims, investigations and proceedings including those consisting of intellectual property, commercial, securities, employment, employee benefits, and environmental matters, which arise in the ordinary course of business. In addition, as part of the Separation and Distribution Agreement (the "Separation and Distribution Agreement") entered into in connection with Hewlett Packard Enterprise's spin-off from HP Inc. (formerly known as "Hewlett-Packard Company") (the "Separation"), Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. agreed to cooperate with each other in managing certain existing litigation related to both parties' businesses. The Separation and Distribution Agreement included provisions that allocate liability and financial responsibility for pending litigation involving the parties, as well as provide for cross-indemnification of the parties against liabilities to one party arising out of liabilities allocated to the other party. The Separation and Distribution Agreement also included provisions that assign to the parties responsibility for managing pending and future litigation related to the general corporate matters of HP Inc. arising prior to the Separation. Hewlett Packard Enterprise records a liability when it believes that it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine both the probability of having incurred a liability and the estimated amount of the liability. Hewlett Packard Enterprise reviews these matters at least quarterly and adjusts these liabilities to reflect the impact of negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel, and other updated information and events pertaining to a particular matter. Litigation is inherently unpredictable. However, Hewlett Packard Enterprise believes it has valid defenses with respect to legal matters pending against us. Nevertheless, cash flows or results of operations could be materially affected in any particular period by the resolution of one or more of these contingencies. Hewlett Packard Enterprise believes it has recorded adequate provisions for any such matters and, as of January 31, 2023, it was not reasonably possible that a material loss had been incurred in connection with such matters in excess of the amounts recognized in its financial statements. Litigation, Proceedings and Investigations Ross and Rogus v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company. On November 8, 2018, a putative class action complaint was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara alleging that HPE pays its California-based female employees “systemically lower compensation” than HPE pays male employees performing substantially similar work. The complaint alleges various California state law claims, including California’s Equal Pay Act, Fair Employment and Housing Act, and Unfair Competition Law, and seeks certification of a California-only class of female employees employed in certain “Covered Positions.” The complaint seeks damages, statutory and civil penalties, attorneys’ fees and costs. On April 2, 2019, HPE filed a demurrer to all causes of action and an alternative motion to strike portions of the complaint. On July 2, 2019, the court denied HPE’s demurrer as to the claims of the putative class and granted HPE’s demurrer as to the claims of the individual plaintiffs. The parties have reached an agreement to resolve this litigation. The terms of the class settlement are reflected in Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement and Certification of Settlement Class, which was filed with the Court on September 26, 2022. On November 3, 2022, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion and preliminarily approved the terms of the class settlement, which defines the settlement class as all “[w]omen actively employed in California by Defendant at any point from November 1, 2015 through the date of Preliminary Approval” who were employed in a covered job code. The settlement class excludes certain individuals, including those who previously executed an arbitration agreement with HPE or an agreement that resulted in a release or waiver of claims. The hearing on final approval of the class settlement is scheduled for April 27, 2023. India Directorate of Revenue Intelligence Proceedings . On April 30 and May 10, 2010, the India Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (the "DRI") issued show cause notices to Hewlett-Packard India Sales Private Ltd ("HP India"), a subsidiary of HP Inc., seven HP India employees and one former HP India employee alleging that HP India underpaid customs duties while importing products and spare parts into India and seeking to recover an aggregate of approximately $370 million, plus penalties. Prior to the issuance of the show cause notices, HP India deposited approximately $16 million with the DRI and agreed to post a provisional bond in exchange for the DRI's agreement to not seize HP India products and spare parts and to not interrupt the transaction of business by HP India. On April 11, 2012, the Bangalore Commissioner of Customs issued an order on the products-related show cause notice affirming certain duties and penalties against HP India and the named individuals of approximately $386 million, of which HP India had already deposited $9 million. On December 11, 2012, HP India voluntarily deposited an additional $10 million in connection with the products-related show cause notice. On April 20, 2012, the Commissioner issued an order on the parts-related show cause notice affirming certain duties and penalties against HP India and certain of the named individuals of approximately $17 million, of which HP India had already deposited $7 million. After the order, HP India deposited an additional $3 million in connection with the parts-related show cause notice to avoid certain penalties. HP India filed appeals of the Commissioner's orders before the Customs Tribunal along with applications for waiver of the pre-deposit of remaining demand amounts as a condition for hearing the appeals. The Customs Department has also filed cross-appeals before the Customs Tribunal. On January 24, 2013, the Customs Tribunal ordered HP India to deposit an additional $24 million against the products order, which HP India deposited in March 2013. The Customs Tribunal did not order any additional deposit to be made under the parts order. In December 2013, HP India filed applications before the Customs Tribunal seeking early hearing of the appeals as well as an extension of the stay of deposit as to HP India and the individuals already granted until final disposition of the appeals. On February 7, 2014, the application for extension of the stay of deposit was granted by the Customs Tribunal until disposal of the appeals. On October 27, 2014, the Customs Tribunal commenced hearings on the cross-appeals of the Commissioner's orders. The Customs Tribunal rejected HP India's request to remand the matter to the Commissioner on procedural grounds. The hearings were scheduled to reconvene on April 6, 2015, and again on November 3, 2015, April 11, 2016, and January 15, 2019, but were canceled at the request of the Customs Tribunal. The hearing was again rescheduled for January 20, 2021 but was postponed and has not yet been rescheduled. ECT Proceedings . In January 2011, the postal service of Brazil, Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (“ECT”), notified a former subsidiary of HP Inc. in Brazil ("HP Brazil") that it had initiated administrative proceedings to consider whether to suspend HP Brazil's right to bid and contract with ECT related to alleged improprieties in the bidding and contracting processes whereby employees of HP Brazil and employees of several other companies allegedly coordinated their bids and fixed results for three ECT contracts in 2007 and 2008. In late July 2011, ECT notified HP Brazil it had decided to apply the penalties against HP Brazil and suspend HP Brazil's right to bid and contract with ECT for five years, based upon the evidence before it. In August 2011, HP Brazil appealed ECT's decision. In April 2013, ECT rejected HP Brazil's appeal, and the administrative proceedings were closed with the penalties against HP Brazil remaining in place. In parallel, in September 2011, HP Brazil filed a civil action against ECT seeking to have ECT's decision revoked. HP Brazil also requested an injunction suspending the application of the penalties until a final ruling on the merits of the case. The court of first instance has not issued a decision on the merits of the case, but it has denied HP Brazil's request for injunctive relief. HP Brazil appealed the denial of its request for injunctive relief to the intermediate appellate court, which issued a preliminary ruling denying the request for injunctive relief but reducing the length of the sanctions from five Forsyth, et al. vs. HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. This purported class and collective action was filed on August 18, 2016 and an amended complaint was filed on December 19, 2016 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, against HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (collectively, “Defendants”) alleging Defendants violated the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, California public policy and the California Business and Professions Code by terminating older workers and replacing them with younger workers. Plaintiffs seek to certify a nationwide collective action under the ADEA comprised of all individuals age 40 years and older who had their employment terminated by an HP entity pursuant to a work force reduction (“WFR”) plan on or after December 9, 2014 for individuals terminated in deferral states and on or after April 8, 2015 in non-deferral states. Plaintiffs also seek to certify a Rule 23 class under California law comprised of all persons 40 years or older employed by Defendants in the state of California and terminated pursuant to a WFR plan on or after August 18, 2012. Following the filing of Plaintiffs' Fourth Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Preliminary Class Certification on December 30, 2020. On April 14, 2021, Plaintiffs’ Motion for Conditional Class Certification was granted. The conditionally certified collective action consists of all individuals who had their employment terminated by Defendants pursuant to a WFR Plan on or after November 1, 2015, and who were 40 years or older at the time of such termination. The collective action excludes all individuals who signed a Waiver and General Release Agreement or an Agreement to Arbitrate Claims. The Court-approved notice was issued to potential class members and the opt-in period is now closed. Oracle America, Inc., et al. v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (Terix copyright matter). On March 22, 2016, Oracle filed a complaint against HPE in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging copyright infringement, interference with contract, intentional interference with prospective economic relations, and unfair competition. Oracle’s claims arise out of HPE’s prior use of a third-party maintenance provider named Terix Computer Company, Inc. (“Terix”). Oracle contends that in connection with HPE’s use of Terix as a subcontractor for certain customers of HPE’s multivendor support business, Oracle’s copyrights were infringed, and HPE is liable for vicarious and contributory infringement and related claims. The lawsuit against HPE follows a prior lawsuit brought by Oracle against Terix in 2013 relating to Terix’s alleged unauthorized provision of Solaris patches to customers on Oracle hardware. On January 29, 2019, the court granted HPE’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to all of Oracle’s claims. On February 20, 2019, the court entered judgment in favor of HPE, dismissing Oracle’s claims in their entirety. Oracle appealed the trial court’s ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On August 20, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its ruling, affirming in part and reversing in part the trial court’s decision granting summary judgment in favor of HPE. On October 6, 2020, the matter was remanded to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. On June 4, 2021, the Court issued an order denying HPE’s motion for summary judgment and granting-in-part Oracle’s motion for partial summary judgment as to a certain of HPE’s defenses. Trial began on May 23, 2022. On June 15, 2022, the jury returned its verdict, awarding $30 million in compensatory damages to Oracle and rejecting Oracle’s request for punitive damages. Judgment has not yet been entered by the Court as the parties are engaged in post-verdict motion practice on multiple issues, including HPE’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law and Oracle’s request for an award of prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees. The parties have since reached an agreement to resolve this dispute. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, the case has been dismissed, and the matter is closed. Q3 Networking Litigation. On September 21 and September 22, 2020, Q3 Networking LLC filed complaints against HPE, Aruba Networks, Commscope and Netgear in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and the United States International Trade Commission (“ITC”). Both complaints allege infringement of four patents, and the ITC complaint defines the “accused products” as “routers, access points, controllers, network management servers, other networking products, and hardware and software components thereof.” The ITC action was instituted on October 23, 2020. The District of Delaware action has been stayed pending resolution of the ITC action. The evidentiary hearing before the ITC has been completed. On December 7, 2021, the Administrative Law Judge issued his initial determination finding no violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act. On May 3, 2022, the ITC issued its Notice of Final Determination, affirming the initial determination and terminating the investigation. On June 18, 2022, Q3 Networking filed a petition for review of the ITC ruling with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Shared Litigation with HP Inc., DXC and Micro Focus As part of the Separation and Distribution Agreements between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise and DXC, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Seattle SpinCo, the parties to each agreement agreed to cooperate with each other in managing certain existing litigation related to both parties' businesses. The Separation and Distribution Agreements also included provisions that assign to the parties responsibility for managing pending and future litigation related to the general corporate matters of HP Inc. (in the case of the separation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from HP Inc.) or of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (in the case of the separation of DXC from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the separation of Seattle SpinCo from Hewlett Packard Enterprise), in each case arising prior to the applicable separation. Environmental The Company's operations and products are or may in the future become subject to various federal, state, local, and foreign laws and regulations concerning the environment, including laws addressing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water; the management, movement, and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes; the clean-up of contaminated sites; product safety and compliance; the energy consumption of products, services, and operations; and the operational or financial responsibility for recycling, treatment, and disposal of those products. This includes legislation that makes producers of electrical goods, including servers and networking equipment, financially responsible for specified collection, recycling, treatment and disposal of past and future covered products (sometimes referred to as "product take-back legislation"). The Company could incur substantial costs, its products could be restricted from entering certain jurisdictions, and it could face other sanctions, if it were to violate or become liable under environmental laws, including those related to addressing climate change and other environmental related issues, or if its products become non-compliant with such environmental laws. The Company's potential exposure includes impacts on revenue, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims and clean-up costs. The amount and timing of costs to comply with environmental laws are difficult to predict. In particular, the Company may become a party to, or otherwise involved in, proceedings brought by U.S. or state environmental agencies under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), known as "Superfund," or other federal, state or foreign laws and regulations addressing the clean-up of contaminated sites, and may become a party to, or otherwise involved in, proceedings brought by private parties for contribution towards clean-up costs. The Company is also contractually obligated to make financial contributions to address actions related to certain environmental liabilities, both ongoing and arising in the future, pursuant to its Separation and Distribution Agreement with HP Inc. Guarantees In the ordinary course of business, the Company may issue performance guarantees to certain of its clients, customers, and other parties pursuant to which the Company has guaranteed the performance obligations of third parties. Some of those guarantees may be backed by standby letters of credit or surety bonds. In general, the Company would be obligated to perform over the term of the guarantee in the event a specified triggering event occurs as defined by the guarantee. The Company believes the likelihood of having to perform under a material guarantee is remote. The Company has entered into service contracts with certain of its clients that are supported by financing arrangements. If a service contract is terminated as a result of the Company's non-performance under the contract or failure to comply with the terms of the financing arrangement, the Company could, under certain circumstances, be required to acquire certain assets related to the service contract. The Company believes the likelihood of having to acquire a material amount of assets under these arrangements is remote. Indemnifications In the ordinary course of business, the Company enters into contractual arrangements under which the Company may agree to indemnify a third party to such arrangement from any losses incurred relating to the services they perform on behalf of the Company or for losses arising from certain events as defined within the particular contract, which may include, for example, litigation or claims relating to past performance. The Company also provides indemnifications to certain vendors and customers against claims of IP infringement made by third parties arising from the use by such vendors and customers of the Company's software products and support services and certain other matters. Some indemnifications may not be subject to maximum loss clauses. Historically, payments made related to these indemnifications have been immaterial. |
