Taller Norma ISO 10667 - Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de ...

similar or superior to our technology, duplicate our technology or design around thepatents owned or licensed by us. In addition, eÅective patent, trademark, copyright andtrade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in foreign countries where we mayneed this protection. We cannot be sure that steps taken by us to protect our technologywill prevent misappropriation of our technology.The semiconductor industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit ofintellectual property rights or positions. This often results in signiÑcant and oftenprotracted and expensive litigation. There is no intellectual property litigation currentlypending against us. However, we may from time to time receive notiÑcations of claimsthat we may be infringing patents or other intellectual property rights owned by other thirdparties. If it is necessary or desirable, we may seek licenses under these third party patentsor intellectual property rights. However, we cannot be sure that licenses will be oÅered orthat the terms of any oÅered licenses will be acceptable to us.The failure to obtain a license from a third party for technology used by us couldcause us to incur substantial liabilities and to suspend the manufacture or shipment ofproducts or our use of processes requiring the technology. Litigation could result insigniÑcant expenses to us, adversely aÅect sales of the challenged product or technologyand divert the eÅorts of our technical and management personnel, whether or not thelitigation is determined in our favor. In the event of an adverse result in any litigation, wecould be required to pay substantial damages, cease the manufacture, use, sale orimportation of infringing products, expend signiÑcant resources to develop or acquire noninfringingtechnology, and discontinue the use of processes requiring the infringingtechnology or obtain licenses to the infringing technology. We may not be successful in thedevelopment or acquisition, or the necessary licenses may not be available underreasonable terms, and any development, acquisition or license could require expendituresby us of substantial time and other resources. Any of these developments would have amaterial adverse eÅect on our business. See ""Risk Factors Ì Our Limited Ability toProtect Our Intellectual Property and Proprietary Rights Could Adversely AÅect OurCompetitive Position.''FacilitiesWe lease two adjacent facilities in Sunnyvale, California, which have approximately20,000 square feet and 15,000 square feet pursuant to two leases which expire in February2001 and November 2004, respectively. These two facilities comprise our headquarters andinclude our research and development, sales and marketing and administrationdepartments. We believe that our current facilities will be adequate through 1999.EmployeesAs of December 31, 1998, we employed a total of 71 full-time employees, including31 engaged in research and development, 30 engaged in sales and marketing, 4 engaged inmanufacturing operations and 6 engaged in general administration activities. We also fromtime to time employ part-time employees and hire contractors. Our employees are notrepresented by any collective bargaining agreement, and we have never experienced a workstoppage. We believe that our employee relations are good.BacklogPLX's backlog at any particular date is not necessarily indicative of actual sales forany succeeding period. This results from expected changes in product delivery schedules40