The Company has entered into various inventory-related purchase agreements with suppliers. Generally, under these agreements, 50% of orders are cancelable by giving notice 46 to 60 days prior to the expected shipment date and 25% of orders are cancelable by giving notice 31 to 45 days prior to the expected shipment date. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had approximately $42.6 million, as compared to $105.1 million as of December 31, 2022, in short-term non-cancelable purchase commitments with suppliers or where the suppliers had procured unique materials and components upon receipts of the Company’s purchase orders. During the height of COVID-19 pandemic, the Company saw an elongation of the time from order placement to production. In response, the Company issued purchase orders to supply chain partners beyond contractual termination periods. As of December 31, 2023, $323.7 million of purchase orders beyond contractual termination periods remained outstanding. Consequently, the Company may incur expenses for materials and components, such as chipsets purchased by the supplier to fulfill the purchase order if the purchase order is cancelled. Expenses incurred in respect of cancelled purchase orders has historically not been significant relative to the original order value. For those orders not governed by master purchase agreements, the commitments are governed by the commercial terms on the Company’s purchase orders subject to acknowledgment from its suppliers. The Company establishes a loss liability for all products it does not expect to sell or orders it anticipates cancelling for which it has committed purchases from suppliers. Such loss liability is included in Other accrued liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. Losses incurred in relation to purchase commitments, including unique materials and components, amounted to $3.5 million, $5.5 million and $3.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s non-cancellable purchase commitments pertaining to non-trade activities were as follows (in thousands):


2024	$	1,823
2025		1,914
2026		2,010
2027		2,111
2028		2,216
Thereafter		3,031
Total	$	13,105

Changes in the Company’s warranty obligations, which is included in Other accrued liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets, were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands)	2023			2022			2021
Balance as of beginning of the period	$	6,320		$	6,861		$	9,240
Provision for warranty liability made		5,105			5,230			4,522
Settlements made		(5,687	)		(5,771	)		(6,901	)
Balance as of the end of the period	$	5,738		$	6,320		$	6,861

The Company, as permitted under Delaware law and in accordance with its Bylaws, indemnifies its officers and directors for certain events or occurrences, subject to certain limits, while the officer or director is or was serving at the Company’s request in such capacity. The term of the indemnification period is for the officer’s or director’s lifetime. The maximum amount of potential future indemnification is unlimited; however, the Company has a Director and Officer Insurance Policy that enables it to recover a portion of any future amounts paid. As a result of its insurance policy coverage, the Company believes the fair value of each indemnification agreement is minimal. Accordingly, the Company has no liabilities recorded for these agreements as of December 31, 2023.

In its sales agreements, the Company typically agrees to indemnify its direct customers, distributors and resellers (the “Indemnified Parties”) for any expenses or liability resulting from claimed infringements by the Company’s products of patents, trademarks or copyrights of third parties that are asserted against the Indemnified Parties, subject to customary carve outs. The terms of these indemnification agreements are generally perpetual after execution of the agreement. The maximum amount of potential future indemnification is generally unlimited. From time to time, the Company receives requests for indemnity and may choose to assume the defense of such litigation asserted against the Indemnified Parties. The Company believes the estimated fair value of these agreements is minimal. Accordingly, the Company has no liabilities recorded for these agreements as of December 31, 2023.

The Company is involved in disputes, litigation, and other legal actions, including, but not limited to, the matters described below. In all cases, at each reporting period, the Company evaluates whether or not a potential loss amount or a potential range of loss is probable and reasonably estimable under the provisions of the authoritative guidance that addresses accounting for contingencies. In such cases, the Company accrues for the amount, or if a range, the Company accrues the low end of the range, only if there is not a better estimate than any other amount within the range, as a component of legal expense within litigation reserves, net. The Company monitors developments in these legal matters that could affect the estimate the Company had previously accrued. In relation to such matters, the Company currently believes that there are no existing claims or proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on its financial position within the next twelve months, or the outcome of these matters is currently not determinable. There are many uncertainties associated with any litigation, and these actions or other third-party claims against the Company may cause the Company to incur costly litigation and/or substantial settlement charges. In addition, the resolution of any intellectual property litigation may require the Company to make royalty payments, which could have an adverse effect in future periods. If any of those events were to occur, the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be adversely affected. The actual liability in any such matters may be materially different from the Company's estimates, which could result in the need to adjust the liability and record additional expenses.

On or around March of 2022, Huawei filed two patent infringement lawsuits at the District Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, against NETGEAR Inc., NETGEAR Deutschland GmbH, and Exertis-Connect GmbH, a third-party webstore selling NETGEAR products in Germany. Huawei asserted one EU patent in each suit, EP 3 337 077 B1 (the ’077 Patent) in case no. 08/22 and EP 3 143 741 B1 (the ’741 Patent) in case no. 09/22. In its complaints, Huawei alleged that the Company’s WiFi 6 products infringed the two patents, which Huawei further claimed are standard-essential patents.

On or around May 10, 2022, the Company was served with two suits that Huawei filed before the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court of China asserting Patent Nos. ZL 201811536087.9 (case no 407) and ZL 201810757332.2 (case no. 408) against the Company’s WiFi 6 products. The Company’s challenge of the Jinan Court’s jurisdiction in both cases was denied by the Supreme Court of China. The parties attended an evidentiary hearing for the cases on July 3, 2023, s followed by licensing and technical hearings on July 24, 2023 and July 25, 2023. After the July 25th hearing, the Court indicated it will confer internally and advise the parties of further action.

In the Dusseldorf cases, on or around February 9, 2023, the Federal Patent Court issued preliminary opinions finding both asserted patents invalid. The invalidity proceedings are ongoing. The Company attended an oral hearing for both infringement cases on March 21, 2023 before the Dusseldorf District Court and the Court rendered its decisions on May 11, 2023. The Court dismissed case no. 09/22 for the ‘741 Patent and stayed case no. 8/22 for the ‘077 Patent. Huawei has appealed the dismissal of case no. 09/22 and an oral hearing is scheduled for May 23, 2024.

Huawei v. NETGEAR Inc., NETGEAR Deutschland GmbH, and NETGEAR International Limited

On or around July 3, 2023, Huawei filed a new infringement suit, asserting patent EP 3 611 989 (the ’989 Patent), against NETGEAR Inc., NETGEAR Deutschland GmbH, and NETGEAR International Limited at the recently established Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Munich, Germany. The Company filed its statement of defense on November 7, 2023.

On around November 22, 2023, Huawei informed the UPC Court and the Company of its intention to assert a fourth patent, EP 3 678 321 (“EP 321”), against the Company at the UPC and requested that the pending UPC case (asserting EP 989) be amended to add EP 321.

The Company has brought various procedural challenges related to both UPC matters.

The Company, at this time, is not able to reasonably estimate any financial impact to the Company resulting from these litigation matters.

The Company does not believe that it is reasonably possible that a material loss has been incurred for any of the matters disclosed above, and consequently has not established any loss provisions.