Commitments And Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments And Contingencies

Note 13 - Commitments and contingencies:

Legal proceedings.    We are involved, from time to time, in various contractual, product liability, patent (or intellectual property), employment and other claims and disputes incidental to our business. Prior to March 9, 2011, we were involved in certain patent litigation with a competitor, and in March 2011, we entered into a confidential settlement agreement with the competitor. Under the terms of the agreement, the competitor paid our Canadian subsidiary approximately $7.5 million in cash (which is recognized as a litigation settlement gain in 2011), and we each agreed to cross-license certain patents and to withdraw certain legal proceedings against the other party.

We currently believe the disposition of all claims and disputes, individually or in the aggregate, should not have a material long-term adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

Environmental matters and litigation.    Our operations are governed by various federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations. Our policy is to comply with environmental laws and regulations at all of our plants and to continually strive to improve environmental performance in association with applicable industry initiatives. We believe that our operations are in substantial compliance with applicable requirements of environmental laws. From time to time, we may be subject to environmental regulatory enforcement under various statutes, resolution of which typically involves the establishment of compliance programs.

Income taxes.    From time to time, we undergo examinations of our income tax returns, and tax authorities have or may propose tax deficiencies. We believe that we have adequately provided accruals for additional income taxes and related interest expense which may ultimately result from such examinations and we believe that the ultimate disposition of all such examinations should not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity.

We have agreed to a policy with Contran and NL providing for the allocation of tax liabilities and tax payments as described in Note 1. Under applicable law, we, as well as every other member of the Contran Tax Group, are each jointly and severally liable for the aggregate federal income tax liability of Contran and the other companies included in the Contran Tax Group for all periods in which we are included in the Contran Tax Group. NL has agreed, however, to indemnify us for any liability for income taxes of the Contran Tax Group in excess of our tax liability in accordance with the tax allocation policy.

Concentration of credit risk.    Our products are sold primarily in North America to original equipment manufacturers. The ten largest customers accounted for approximately 39% of sales in 2009, 38% in 2010 and 37% in 2011. No customer accounted for more than 10% of our sales in 2009, 2010 or 2011.

Rent expense, principally for buildings, was $478,000 in 2009, $464,000 in 2010 and $427,000 in 2011. At December 31, 2011, future minimum rentals under noncancellable operating leases are shown below.

Years ending December 31,	Amount
	(In thousands)
2012	$	397
2013		368
2014		118
2015		111
2016		74
Thereafter		7
Total	$	1,075