Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 29, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

15. Commitments and Contingencies

Operating Leases

        The Company leases certain facilities under operating lease agreements that expire at various dates through 2022. Some of these arrangements contain renewal options and require the Company to pay taxes, insurance and maintenance costs.

        Rent expense under operating leases was $4.4 million, $4.5 million and $5.0 million for fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The minimum annual future rentals under the terms of these leases as of December 29, 2012 are as follows (in thousands):

Fiscal Year
2013	$	3,523
2014		2,521
2015		1,868
2016		1,866
2017		1,665
Thereafter		2,035
Total minimum lease payments	$	13,478

        The Company previously leased facilities for its headquarters in Austin, Texas. In fiscal 2012, the Company purchased the facilities under options available in the leases. See Note 9, Acquisitions, for additional information.

Litigation

• Patent Litigation

        On May 13, 2012, MaxLinear, Inc., a Delaware corporation, filed a lawsuit against the Company in the United States District Court in the Southern District of California, San Diego Division, seeking a declaratory judgment that MaxLinear products do not infringe 19 Silicon Laboratories' patents and that such patents are invalid. The Company responded and filed claims accusing MaxLinear of infringing 6 Silicon Laboratories' patents, including 5 of the named 19 Company patents and an additional patent. On December 12, 2012, the Court granted a request by the Company to add additional allegations of patent infringement to the case, such that the Company is presently accusing MaxLinear of infringing 9 patents in this litigation. The Company has asked the Court for a permanent injunction stopping the sale of all allegedly infringing MaxLinear products.

        On July 30, 2012, the Company further filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against MaxLinear in United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The Company is seeking an order that MaxLinear's United States Patent Nos. 7,362,178, 7,778,613 and 8,198,940 are invalid, and that the Company's products do not infringe such patents.

        On July 17, 2012, the Company additionally filed a lawsuit against MaxLinear in the United States District Court in the Southern District of California, San Diego Division, alleging infringement of an additional Company patent, U.S. Patent 7,035,607 related to RF design. On August 6, 2012, MaxLinear counterclaimed alleging infringement of the three patents in the Texas litigation by a variety of the Company's RF and mixed signal products.

        At this time, the Company cannot predict the outcome of these matters or the resulting financial impact to it, if any.

Other

        The Company is involved in various other legal proceedings that have arisen in the normal course of business. While the ultimate results of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not expect them to have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial statements.