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Legal Matters
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Loss Contingency, Information about Litigation Matters [Abstract]  
Legal Matters Legal Matters
    
The Company filed an intellectual property suit against [24]7 Customer, Inc. (“[24]7”) in the Southern District of New York on March 6, 2014 seeking damages on the grounds that [24]7 reverse engineered and misappropriated the Company’s technology to develop competing products and misused the Company’s business information. On June 22, 2015, [24]7 filed suit against the Company in the Northern District of California alleging patent infringement. On December 7, 2015, [24]7 filed a second patent infringement suit against the Company, also in the Northern District of California. On March 16, 2017, the New York case was voluntarily transferred and consolidated with the two California cases in the Northern District of California for all pre-trial purposes. Rulings by both the Court and the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the Company’s favor have invalidated the majority of [24]7 patents that were asserted in the patent cases. The Company believes the remaining claims filed by [24]7 are entirely without merit and intends to defend them vigorously. Trial for the Company’s intellectual property and other claims asserted against [24]7 related to three of the customers at issue occurred on May 24, 2021 and the jury awarded approximately $30.3 million in favor of the Company, including approximately $6.7 million in compensatory damages and approximately $23.6 million in punitive damages. The Company currently anticipates that [24]7 may elect to pursue challenges to this award on procedural grounds. Accordingly, no amounts for the settlement have been reflected in the Company’s financial statements. Trial for [24]7’s patent infringement claims has been vacated, to be reset by the Court.
From time to time, the Company is involved in or subject to legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings, claims, demands, and investigations arising in the ordinary course of business, including direct claims brought by or against the Company with respect to intellectual property, contracts, employment and other matters, as well as claims brought against the Company’s customers for whom the Company has a contractual indemnification obligation. The Company accrues for a liability when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required in both the determination of probability and the determination as to whether a loss is reasonably estimable. In addition, in the event the Company determines that a loss is not probable, but is reasonably possible, and it becomes possible to develop what the Company believes to be a reasonable range of possible loss, then the Company will include disclosure related to such matter as appropriate and in compliance with ASC 450. The accruals or estimates, if any, resulting from the foregoing analysis, are reviewed at least quarterly and adjusted to reflect the impact of negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel and other information and events pertaining to a particular matter. To the extent there is a reasonable possibility that the losses could exceed the amounts already accrued, the Company will, as applicable, adjust the accrual in the period the determination is made, disclose an estimate of the additional loss or range of loss, indicate that the estimate is immaterial with respect to its financial statements as a whole or, if the amount of such adjustment cannot be reasonably estimated, disclose that an estimate cannot be made. From time to time, third parties assert claims against the Company regarding intellectual property rights, privacy issues, and other matters arising in the ordinary course of business.