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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

Legal contingencies

 

Federal Trade Commission Consent Order. As previously disclosed, on December 20, 2016 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a confidential Civil Investigative Demand, or CID, to the Company requiring the Company to produce certain documents and materials and to answer certain interrogatories relating to PC Healthcheck, an obsolete software program that the Company developed on behalf of a third party for their use with their customers. The investigation relates to the Company providing software like PC Healthcheck to third parties for their use prior to December 31, 2016, when the Company was under management of the previous Board and executive team. Since issuing the CID, the FTC has sought additional written and testimonial evidence from the Company. We have cooperated fully with the FTC’s investigation and provided all requested information. In addition, the Company has not used PC Healthcheck nor provided it to any customers since December 2016.

 

On March 9, 2018, the FTC notified the Company that the FTC was willing to engage in settlement discussions. On November 6, 2018, the Company and the FTC entered into a proposed Stipulation to Entry of Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment, or the Consent Order. The Consent Order was approved by the Commission on March 26, 2019 and entered by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 29, 2019. Entry of the Consent Order by the Court has finally resolved the FTC’s multi-year investigation of the Company.

 

Pursuant to the Consent Order, under which the Company neither admitted nor denied the FTC’s allegations (except as to the Court having jurisdiction over the matter), the FTC has agreed to accept a payment of $10 million in settlement of the $35 million judgement, subject to the factual accuracy of the information the Company has provided as part of our financial representations. The $10 million payment was made on April 1, 2019 and has been recognized in operating expenses within the Company’s consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018.

 

Additionally, pursuant to the Consent Order, the Company has agreed to implement certain new procedures and enhance certain existing procedures. For example, the Consent Order necessitates that the Company cooperate with representatives of the Commission on associated investigations if needed; imposes requirements on the Company regarding obtaining acknowledgements of the Consent Order and compliance certification, including record creation and maintenance; and prohibits the Company from making misrepresentations and misleading claims or providing the means for others to make such claims regarding, among other things, detection of security or performance issues on consumer’s Electronic Devices. Electronic Devices include, but are not limited to, cell phones, tablets and computers. The Company intends to monitor the impact of the Consent Order regularly and, while the Company currently does not expect the settlement to have a long-term and materially adverse impact on its business, the Company’s business may be negatively impacted as the Company adjusts to some of the changes. If the Company is unable to comply with the Consent Order, then this could result in a material and adverse impact to the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.

 

Other Matters. On January 17, 2017 the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of Attorney General, State of Washington (“Washington AG”), issued a Civil Investigative Demand to the Company requiring the Company to produce certain documents and materials and to answer certain interrogatories relating to PC Healthcheck. The Washington AG has not alleged a factual basis underlying the issuance of the Civil Investigative Demand. On May 30, 2017, the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of Attorney General, State of Texas (“Texas AG”), issued a Civil Investigative Demand to the Company requiring the Company to produce certain documents and materials and to answer certain interrogatories relating to PC Healthcheck.  The Texas AG has not alleged a factual basis underlying the issuance of the Civil Investigative Demand. Accordingly, the Company has responded to both the Washington AG Civil Investigative Demand and the Texas AG Civil Investigative Demand. To date, the Company has not received any follow-up communications from either state’s AG with respect to these matters.

 

The Company has received and may in the future receive additional requests for information, including subpoenas, from other governmental agencies relating to the subject matter of the Consent Order and the Civil Investigative Demands described above. The Company intends to cooperate with these information requests and is not aware of any other legal proceedings against the Company by governmental authorities at this time.

 

We are also subject to other routine legal proceedings, as well as demands, claims and threatened litigation, that arise in the normal course of our business, potentially including assertions that we may be infringing patents or other intellectual property rights of others. We currently do not believe that the ultimate amount of liability, if any, for any pending claims of any type (alone or combined) will materially affect our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The ultimate outcome of any litigation is uncertain; however, any unfavorable outcomes could have a material negative impact on our financial condition and operating results. Regardless of outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense costs, negative publicity, diversion of management resources and other factors.

Guarantees

 

We have identified guarantees in accordance with ASC 450, Contingencies. This guidance stipulates that an entity must recognize an initial liability for the fair value, or market value, of the obligation it assumes under the guarantee at the time it issues such a guarantee, and must disclose that information in its interim and annual financial statements. We have entered into various service level agreements with our partners, in which we may guarantee the maintenance of certain service level thresholds. Under some circumstances, if we do not meet these thresholds, we may be liable for certain financial costs. We evaluate costs for such guarantees under the provisions of ASC 450. We consider such factors as the degree of probability that we would be required to satisfy the liability associated with the guarantee and the ability to make a reasonable estimate of the resulting cost. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, we did not incur any costs as a result of such obligations. We have not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations in the condensed consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018.