Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2009, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 33,000 patents, which was slightly above the number of patents in our patent portfolio at the end of both fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2007.

        Patents generally have a term of twenty years from the time they are filed. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we believe that our patents and applications are important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties as we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interest. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our businesses depend or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights," in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2008, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 32,000 patents, which was slightly above the number of patents in our patent portfolio at the end of both fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2006.

        Patents generally have a term of twenty years from the time they are filed. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we believe that our patents and applications are important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties as we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interest. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our businesses depend or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights," in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products
and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2008, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 32,000 patents, which was slightly above the
number of patents in our patent portfolio at the end of both fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2006.

        Patents
generally have a term of twenty years from the time they are filed. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we
believe that our patents and applications are important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single
patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In
addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties as we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under
patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interest. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For
a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or
enforce the intellectual property rights on which our businesses depend or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights," in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein
by reference.

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2007, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 31,000 patents, which was slightly above the number of patents in our patent portfolio at the end of both fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2005.

        Patents generally have a term of twenty years from the time they are filed. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we believe that our patents and applications are important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties as we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interests. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our business depends or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights," in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2006, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 30,000 patents, which was approximately equivalent to the number of patents in our patent portfolio at the end of fiscal 2005 and significantly higher then the 25,000 patents we held at the end of fiscal 2004.

        Patents generally have a term of twenty years. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we believe that our patents and applications are important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties as we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interests. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our business depends or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights," in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2005, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 30,000 patents, a significant increase over the 25,000 patents we held at the end of fiscal 2004.

        Patents generally have a term of twenty years. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we believe that our patents and applications are important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties as we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interests. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our business depends or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights," in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Patents

        Our general policy has been to seek patent protection for those inventions and improvements likely to be incorporated into our products and services or where proprietary rights will improve our competitive position. At October 31, 2004, our worldwide patent portfolio included over 25,000 patents, a significant increase over the 21,000 patents we held at the end of fiscal 2003. Of these 25,000 patents, approximately 9,000 are related to IPG, with approximately 4,000 of the IPG patents related to our supplies business.

        Patents generally have a term of twenty years. As our patent portfolio has been built over time, the remaining terms on the individual patents vary. While we believe that our patents and applications are

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important for maintaining the competitive differentiation of our products and maximizing our return on research and development investments, no single patent is in itself essential to us as a whole or any of our principal business segments.

        In addition to developing our patents, we license intellectual property from third parties where we deem appropriate. We have also granted and continue to grant to others licenses under patents owned by us when we consider these arrangements to be in our interests. These license arrangements include a number of cross-licenses with third parties.

        For a discussion of risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Factors that Could Affect Future Results—Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our business depends or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights" in Item 7, which is incorporated herein by reference.