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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

13. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Summary of future minimum lease payments for all operating leases

        Minimum future payments under all operating leases as of December 31, 2011, are as follows (in thousands):

Payments due by period
   
 

2012

  $ 8,916  

2013

    8,206  

2014

    8,404  

2015

    6,818  

2016

    1,381  

Thereafter

    183  
       

 

  $ 33,908  
       

        Rental expense for operating leases totaled $8.9 million, $8.0 million and $7.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Estimated sublease income of $584,000 is expected over the next five years of which $162,000 is anticipated to be received in the next 12 months.

Naming rights

        During 2011, we entered into a six-year agreement with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority ("OACCA") for the right to name Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. Amounts represent annual payments due OACCA for the naming rights and we may terminate this agreement at our sole option, subject to its termination fee.

        Minimum future payments under naming rights agreement as of December 31, 2011, are as follows (in thousands):

Payments due by period
   
 

2012

  $ 1,236  

2013

    1,273  

2014

    1,311  

2015

    1,351  

2016

    1,391  
       

 

  $ 6,562  
       

Legal Proceedings

        From time to time, we are involved in litigation concerning consumer protection, employment, intellectual property and other commercial matters related to the conduct and operation of our business and the sale of products on our Website. In connection with such litigation, we may be subject to significant damages. In some instances other parties may have contractual indemnification obligations to us. However, such contractual obligations may prove unenforceable or non-collectible, and in the event we cannot enforce or collect on indemnification obligations, we may bear the full responsibility for damages, fees and costs resulting from such litigation. We may also be subject to equitable remedies and penalties. Such litigation could be costly and time consuming and could divert or distract our management and key personnel from our business operations. Due to the uncertainty of litigation and depending on the amount and the timing, an unfavorable resolution of some or all of these matters could materially affect our business, results of operations, financial position, or cash flows.

        On February 2, 2007, along with five shareholder plaintiffs, we filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco against Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Goldman Sachs & Co., Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., Bank of America Securities LLC, Bank of New York, Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse (USA) Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., and UBS Financial Services, Inc., and later amended the complaint to add Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as a defendant. The suit alleged that the defendants, who controlled over 80% of the prime brokerage market, participated in an illegal stock market manipulation scheme and that the defendants had no intention of covering short sell orders with borrowed stock, as they are required to do, causing what are referred to as "fails to deliver" and that the defendants' actions caused and continued to cause dramatic declines in the share price of our stock and that the amount of "fails to deliver" often exceeded our entire supply of outstanding shares. The suit accused the defendants of violations of California securities laws and common law and violations of California's Unfair Business Practices Act. After it filed for bankruptcy on September 2008, we elected not to pursue our claims against Lehman Brothers Holdings. On July 23, 2009, the court sustained defendants' demurrer to our amended causes of action for conversion and trespass to chattels. On December 15, 2010, we and the other plaintiffs in the case entered into a settlement agreement with certain of the defendants requiring these defendants to pay in the aggregate $4.5 million to plaintiffs. Other terms of settlement are confidential. At that time, remaining defendants in the suit were Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing L.P., ("Goldman Defendants") Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corporation ("Merrill Lynch Defendants), and Bank of America Securities LLC. On December 15, 2010, we filed a motion to amend our complaint against the Goldman and Merrill Lynch Defendants to add a cause of action based on the New Jersey Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act. Defendants challenged the RICO claim by demurrer and eventually the court sustained the demurrer. We thereafter entered a settlement agreement with Bank of America Securities LLC, the terms of which are confidential, and have dismissed the action as to that defendant. On August 19, 2011, the remaining defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. On January 10, 2012 the court granted the motion for summary judgment as to all remaining defendants. We intend to appeal the court's ruling. The defendants have the right to apply to the court (but have not yet done so) to seek reimbursement from us of their allowable court costs. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to any court costs ordered against us are described above.

        On May 30, 2008 we filed a complaint in New York state court against the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, its Commissioner, the State of New York and its governor, alleging that a New York state tax law is unconstitutional. The effect of the New York law is to require Internet sellers to collect and remit New York sales taxes on their New York sales even if the seller has no New York tax "nexus" other than with New York based independent contractors who are Internet advertising affiliates. The complaint asks for the court to declare the law unconstitutional and enjoin its application to us. New York filed a motion to dismiss. We responded to the motion and filed a motion for summary judgment, and both motions were heard simultaneously. On January 12, 2009, the court granted New York's motion to dismiss and denied our motion for summary judgment. We appealed the decision and on November 4, 2010 the New York Appellate Division upheld part of the lower court's ruling rejecting our claims that the law is unconstitutional on its face, but remanded our claims that the law is unconstitutional as applied, for further discovery and proceedings in the lower court. We filed with the New York State Court of Appeals a motion of leave to appeal the portions of the decision upholding the lower court's ruling. On March 15, 2011, the Appellate Division of the New York State Court of Appeals denied our motion for leave to appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals. We have determined not to pursue at the trial court level our claims that the law is unconstitutional as applied. We are proceeding with an appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals of the Appellate Division's ruling on our claim that the statute is unconstitutional on its face.

        On August 12, 2008, we along with seven other defendants, were sued in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, by Sean Lane, and seventeen other individuals, on their own behalf and for others similarly in a class action suit, alleging violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Video Privacy Protection Act, and California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Computer Crime Law. The complaint relates to our use of a product known as Facebook Beacon, created and provided to us by Facebook, Inc. Facebook Beacon provided the means for Facebook users to share purchasing data among their Facebook friends. The parties extended by agreement the time for defendants' answer, including our answer, and thereafter, the Plaintiff and Facebook proposed a stipulated settlement to the court for approval, which would resolve the case without requirement of financial contribution from us. On March 17, 2010, over objections lodged by some parties, the court accepted the proposed settlement. Various parties objecting to the settlement have appealed and their appeal is now pending. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made.

        On November 14, 2008, we filed suit in Ohio state court against the Ohio Tax Commissioner, the Ohio Attorney General and the Governor of Ohio, alleging the Ohio Commercial Activity Tax is unconstitutional. Enacted in 2005, Ohio's Commercial Activity Tax is based on activities in Ohio that contribute to production or gross income for a company whether or not the company has a physical presence in or nexus within the state. Our complaint asked for a judgment declaring the tax unconstitutional and for an injunction preventing any enforcement of the tax. The defendants moved to dismiss the case. On July 28, 2009, the trial court ruled that there was no justiciable controversy in the case, as we had not yet been assessed a tax, and it granted the defendants' motions to dismiss. In September 2009, we received a letter of determination from the Ohio Department of Taxation noting the Department's determination that we are required to register for remitting of the Commercial Activity Tax, and owe $612,784 in taxes, interest, and penalties as of June 30, 2009. The Ohio Department of Taxation issued additional estimated assessments of estimated tax, interest and penalties totaling $97,768 as of December 31, 2011.We have filed protests to challenge the Department's Assessments on constitutional grounds and the matter is currently pending before the Ohio Department of Taxation's Legal Division for administrative review and determination. A hearing on these matters was held November 18, 2011. No administrative ruling has been issued following the hearing. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. We believe the determinations to be unlawful and erroneous and are vigorously contesting the determination.

        On March 10, 2009, we were sued in a class action filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. Cynthia Hines, the nominative plaintiff on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, seeks damages under claims for breach of contract, common law fraud and New York consumer fraud laws. The Plaintiff alleges we failed to properly disclose our returns policy to her and that we improperly imposed a "restocking" charge on her return of a vacuum cleaner. We filed a motion to dismiss based upon assertions that our agreement with our customers requires all such actions to be arbitrated in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alternatively, we asked that the case be transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Utah, so that arbitration may be compelled in that district. On September 8, 2009 the motion to dismiss or transfer was denied, the court stating that our browsewrap agreement was insufficient under New York law to establish an agreement with the customer to arbitrate disputes in Utah. On October 8, 2009, we filed a Notice of Appeal of the court's ruling. The appeal was denied. On December 31, 2010 Hines filed an amended complaint. The amended complaint eliminated common law fraud claims and breach of contract claims and added claims for breach of Utah's consumer protection statute and various other state consumer protection statutes. The amended complaint also asks for an injunction. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. The suit is in final discovery stages. We filed motions to dismiss and to decertify the class. The court has not ruled on these motions. We intend to vigorously defend this action.

        On September 23, 2009, SpeedTrack, Inc. sued us along with 27 other defendants in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California. We are alleged to have infringed a patent covering search and categorization software. We believe that certain third party vendors of products and services sold to us are contractually obligated to indemnify us in this action. On November 11, 2009, the parties stipulated to stay all proceedings in the case until resolution of a the United States Patent and Trademark Office had concluded and resolved a reexamination of the patent in question, and also until a previously filed infringement action against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and other retailers resulted either in judgment or dismissal. Subsequently, the parties agreed to extend the time for defendants' complaint answer until 21 days following a court order to lift the stay to which the parties stipulated. The United States Patent and Trademark Office resolved the reexamination of the patent in question in favor of SpeedTrack, Inc. The case remains stayed, pending the outcome of the infringement action against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and other retailers. On February 22, 2012, the court in the Wal-Mart Stores case granted Wal-Mart Stores' motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. The court also granted Speedtrack's motion for summary judgment on patent validity. It is not known whether the summary judgments granted in the Wal-Mart Stores case will have an effect on the Speedtrack case in which we are named as one of the defendants. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors.

        On or about September 25, 2009, Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. filed suit against us and 12 other defendants in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Texas. We are alleged to have infringed three patents purportedly related to a communications protocol between a user and server terminals, text input functionalities and search processes. We believe a third party vendor of search products and services sold to us is contractually obligated to indemnify us in this action as it pertains to the search patent. On October 14, 2011, a jury returned a verdict in our favor, finding non-infringement on all asserted claims, on all patents, and finding of invalidity of the Alcatel-Lucent patent, having to do with a communications protocol. On November 29, 2011, Alcatel-Lucent filed a motion for a new trial. We have opposed the motion. The court has not ruled on the motion.

        On May 11, 2010, Site Update Solutions, LLC filed suit against us and 34 other defendants in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Texas (now transferred to the Northern District of California) for infringement of a patent claiming "a process for maintaining ongoing registration for pages on a given search engine . . . a method to actively cause an updating of a specific Internet search engine database regarding a particular WWW resource." We, along with other defendants, filed a motion to transfer venue. The court granted the motion, and the case is now transferred to the Northern District of California. We have answered the complaint. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors, if any.

        On August 4, 2010, EON Corp. IP Holdings, LLC filed suit against us and 16 other defendants in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Texas for infringement of a patent covering a system and method for communicating between local subscriber units and a local base station repeater cell in a two-way communication interactive video network. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors, if any.

        On September 29, 2010, a trustee in bankruptcy filed against us an adversary proceeding in the matter of In re: Petters Company, Inc., a case filed in United States Bankruptcy Court, in the District of Minnesota. The complaint alleges principal causes of action against us under various Bankruptcy Code sections and the Minnesota Fraudulent Transfer Act, to recover damages for alleged transfers of property from the Petters Company occurring prior to the filing of the case initially as a civil receivership in October 2008. The trustee's complaint alleges such transfers occurred in at least one note transaction whereby we transferred at least $2,300,000 and received in return transfers totaling at least $2,547,406. The trustee does not specify a date for the transactions; however we believe that any alleged transaction with the Petters Company would have taken place in excess of seven years from the date of the filing of the adversary proceeding. The case is in its early stages. We filed a motion to dismiss on statute of limitations and other grounds. The court has not ruled upon the motion to dismiss. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action.

        On November 17, 2010 we were sued in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, by District Attorneys for the California Counties of Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Shasta and Sonoma County, and the County of Santa Cruz recently joined the suit. These district attorneys seek damages and an injunction under claims for violations of California consumer protection laws, alleging we made untrue or misleading statements concerning our pricing, price reductions, sources of products and shipping charges. The complaint asks for damages in the amount of not less than $15 million. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. The suit is in the discovery stage. We intend to vigorously defend this action.

        On April 4, 2011, Walker Digital, LLC filed suit against us and 24 other defendants in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware for infringement of a patent covering a system of providing to purchasers a substitution recommendation for goods offered for purchase on a website. We answered the complaint and filed a declaratory judgment counterclaim. We have since settled this matter, providing plaintiff a declaration. No money was paid to Walker Digital in settlement of its claim. The case has been dismissed.

        On September 11, 2011, Droplets, Inc. filed suit against us and eight other defendants in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Texas for infringement of a patent covering strings of programming code downloaded from a server to a client computer. We have answered the complaint. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors.

        On September 13, 2011, Select Retrieval LLC filed suit against us and 79 other defendants in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware for infringement of a patent covering the hierarchical display of interactive links on a webpage. We have answered the complaint. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors.

        On November 18, 2011 Smartfit Solutions, LLC filed suit against us and 43 other defendants in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for infringement of a patent covering certain "methods for presenting exercise protocols to a user and evaluating the effectiveness of the same." We have not answered the complaint. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors.

        On December 29, 2011 The Tobin Family Education and Health Foundation filed suit against us in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey for infringement of a patent covering a method and system for customizing marketing services on networks communication with hypertext tagging conventions. We have not answered the complaint. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors.

        On January 27, 2012, Pragmatus Telecom, LLC filed suit against us in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware for infringement of two patents covering a system for coordinating data and voice communications via customer contact channel changing system using voice over IP and infringement of one patent for coordinating data and voice communications via customer contact channel changing system. We have not yet answered the complaint. The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors.

        On March 1, 2012, H-W Technology L.C. filed suit against us in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Texas for infringement of a patent entitled "Internet Protocol (IP) Phone with Search and Advertising Capability." We have not been served, nor have we answered the complaint.The case is in its early stages. The nature of the loss contingencies relating to claims that have been asserted against us are described above. However, no estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. We intend to vigorously defend this action and pursue our indemnification rights with our vendors, if any.

        On September 15, 2009, we received a notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") stating that the SEC is conducting an investigation concerning our previously-announced financial restatements of 2006 and 2008 and other matters. The subpoena accompanying the notice covers documents related to the restatements and also to our billings to our partners in the fourth quarter of 2008 and related collections, and our accounting for and implementation of software relating to our accounting for customer refunds and credits, including offsets to partners, and related matters. Prior to October 2010, the SEC asked us for information in the form of records connected to this matter, all of which we have provided. The SEC has interviewed several witnesses. However, we do not know the present status of the investigation. Since October 2010, we have not been asked for more information, and we know of no person interviewed in this matter since October 2010. We have cooperated and intend to continue to cooperate fully with the investigation.

        We establish liabilities when a particular contingency is probable and estimable. We believe the $2.4 million accrued at December 31, 2011 in our consolidated financial statements is adequate in light of the probable and estimable liabilities. It is reasonably possible that the potential losses may exceed our accrued liabilities for contingencies.

        We have other contingencies which are reasonably possible; however, the reasonably possible exposure to losses cannot currently be estimated.

        We recognized a reduction in legal expenses of zero, $4.5 million and $7.1 million during the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 respectively, related to the settlement of legal matters.