12. Commitments and Contingencies

Leases

Intevac leases certain facilities under non-cancelable operating leases that expire at various times up to March 2024 and has options to renew most leases, with rentals to be negotiated. Certain of Intevac’s leases contain provisions for rental adjustments. Included in other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet is $2.4 million of deferred rent as of December 31, 2016 related to the effective rent on Intevac’s long-term lease for Intevac’s Santa Clara, California facility. The terms of the Company’s lease of its Santa Clara, California facility include a tenant improvement allowance of up to $1.7 million. Tenant improvement allowances are reimbursements received from the landlord for construction costs and are amortized on a straight-line basis over the lease term as a reduction in rent. The tenant improvement allowances are recorded when the Company has completed its obligations and the tenant improvement allowance is receivable. In addition, Intevac is required to maintain a standby letter of credit for $1.0 million for this lease. This standby letter of credit is secured with $1.0 million of restricted cash. The facility leases require Intevac to pay for all normal maintenance costs. Gross rental expense was approximately $3.8 million, $4.0 million and $3.8 million for fiscal 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.

As of December 31, 2016, future minimum lease payments are as follows.


(in thousands)
2017	$	2,824
2018		2,783
2019		2,859
2020		2,790
2021		2,874
Thereafter		6,777

	$	20,907

Guarantees

Officer and Director Indemnifications

As permitted or required under Delaware law and to the maximum extent allowable under that law, Intevac has certain obligations to indemnify its current and former officers and directors for certain events or occurrences while the officer or director is, or was serving, at Intevac’s request in such capacity. These indemnification obligations are valid as long as the director or officer acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. The maximum potential amount of future payments Intevac could be required to make under these indemnification obligations is unlimited; however, Intevac has a director and officer insurance policy that mitigates Intevac’s exposure and enables Intevac to recover a portion of any future amounts paid. As a result of Intevac’s insurance policy coverage, Intevac believes the estimated fair value of these indemnification obligations is not material.

Other Indemnifications

As is customary in Intevac’s industry, many of Intevac’s contracts provide remedies to certain third parties such as defense, settlement, or payment of judgment for intellectual property claims related to the use of its products. Such indemnification obligations may not be subject to maximum loss clauses. Historically, payments made related to these indemnifications have been immaterial.

Letters of Credit

As of December 31, 2016, we had letters of credit and bank guarantees outstanding totaling $1.6 million, including the standby letter of credit outstanding under the Santa Clara, California facility lease and various other guarantees with its bank. These letters of credit and bank guarantees are collateralized by $1.6 million of restricted cash.

Warranty

Intevac provides for the estimated cost of warranty when revenue is recognized. Intevac’s warranty is per contract terms and for its hard disk drive, PV and DCP manufacturing systems the warranty typically ranges between 12 and 24 months from customer acceptance. For systems sold through a distributor, Intevac offers a 3 month warranty. The remainder of any warranty period is the responsibility of the distributor. During this warranty period any defective non-consumable parts are replaced and installed at no charge to the customer. The warranty period on consumable parts is limited to their reasonable usable lives. Intevac uses estimated repair or replacement costs along with its historical warranty experience to determine its warranty obligation. Intevac generally provides a twelve month warranty on its Photonics’ products. The provision for the estimated future costs of warranty is based upon historical cost and product performance experience. Intevac exercises judgment in determining the underlying estimates.

On the consolidated balance sheets, the short-term portion of the warranty provision is included in other accrued liabilities, while the long-term portion is included in other long-term liabilities. The expense associated with product warranties issued or adjusted is included in cost of net revenues on the consolidated statements of operations.

The following table displays the activity in the warranty provision account for fiscal 2016 and 2015:


	2016			2015
	(in thousands)
Beginning balance	$	982		$	1,186
Expenditures incurred under warranties		(488	)		(463	)
Accruals for product warranties		943			837
Adjustments to previously existing warranty accruals		(430	)		(578	)

Ending balance	$	1,007		$	982

Legal Matters

From time to time, Intevac receives notification from third parties, including customers and suppliers, seeking indemnification, litigation support, payment of money or other actions in connection with claims made against them. In addition, from time to time, Intevac receives notification from third parties claiming that Intevac may be or is infringing their intellectual property or other rights. Intevac also is subject to various other legal proceedings and claims, both asserted and unasserted, that arise in the ordinary course of business. Although the outcome of these claims and proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty, Intevac does not believe that any of these other existing proceedings or claims will have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial condition or results of operations.