Note 10. Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation and legal proceedings

The Company retains the services of professional service providers, including law firms that specialize in intellectual property licensing, enforcement and patent law. These service providers are often retained on an hourly, monthly, project, contingent or a blended fee basis. In contingency fee arrangements, a portion of the legal fee is based on predetermined milestones or the Company’s actual collection of funds. The Company accrues contingent fees when it is probable that the milestones will be achieved and the fees can be reasonably estimated.

The Company’s subsidiaries have filed patent infringement lawsuits against the subsidiaries of ZTE Corporation in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, India, Brazil, Malaysia, and Romania, and against ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. and ASUS Computer GmbH in Germany, Spain and India. In such jurisdictions, an unsuccessful plaintiff may be required to pay a portion of the other party’s legal fees. Pursuant to negotiation with ZTE’s United Kingdom subsidiary, the Company made two written commitments, in November 2012 and May 2013, representing payment should a liability by Vringo Infrastructure arise as a result of the two cases it has filed. The defendants estimated the total possible liability to be no more than approximately $2,900 for each case. In addition, ZTE's German subsidiary started three revocation (invalidity) proceedings against the Company; two in the first half of 2013 and one in the first quarter of 2014. Should ZTE be successful in any of those actions, the Company would be liable for some portion of ZTE’s fees. The total amount the Company would have to pay is a statutorily determined percentage based on the estimated value in dispute for these proceedings. ZTE has estimated the value of the revocation proceeding at approximately $1,700 for each of the three revocation cases on file; the Company assesses the likelihood of such payment as remote. The value of each of the four infringement proceedings against ZTE on file and of each of the two infringement proceedings against ASUS on file has been estimated at approximately $1,400 by the Company. On May 5, 2014, the Company deposited a bond of approximately $1,400 to enforce an injunction against ZTE in Germany. Should the injunction be successfully overturned on appeal, the Company may be obligated to compensate ZTE for any damages allegedly suffered as a result of the enforcement of the injunction, which would be ascertained through separate damages proceedings. Should the judgment which granted the injunction be affirmed on appeal, however, the amount paid as security would be returnable to the Company in full.

Pursuant to negotiations with ZTE’s Australian subsidiary, the Company placed a written commitment in April 2014 to ensure payment should a liability by Vringo Infrastructure arise as a result of the case filed. The amount of such commitment cannot be reasonably estimated at this time and the Company assesses the likelihood of such payment as remote. In addition, in Brazil, as a condition of the relief requested, the Company deposited approximately $904 as a surety against the truth of allegations contained in the complaint. Unless ZTE is the prevailing party and proves that actual material damages were suffered while the requested relief was in place, the funds are returnable at the end of the litigation. The $1,400 bond deposit in Germany and the $904 surety deposit in Brazil are included in Deposits with courts in the consolidated balance sheet as of June 30, 2014.

In addition, the Company may be required to grant additional written commitments, as necessary, in connection with its commenced proceedings against ZTE Corporation and its subsidiaries in various countries. It should be noted, however, that if the Company were successful on any court applications or the entirety of any litigation, ZTE Corporation may be responsible for a substantial portion of the Company’s legal fees.

Leases

In July 2012, the Company signed a rental agreement for its corporate executive office in New York for an annual rental fee of approximately $137 (subject to certain adjustments) which was to expire in September 2015. However, in January 2014, the Company entered into an amended lease agreement with the landlord for a different office space within the same building. The initial annual rental fee for this new office is approximately $403 (subject to certain future escalations and adjustments) beginning when the new office space is available, which is expected to be in the third quarter of 2014. This lease will expire five years and three months after the new office space is available. Rent expense for operating leases for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2014 were $70 and $182, respectively. Rent expense for operating leases for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2013 were $63 and $107, respectively.