Commitments and Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Commitments

As of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, our satellite-related obligations were $643 million and $732 million, respectively. Our satellite-related obligations primarily include payments pursuant to agreements for the construction of the EchoStar XXIV satellite; payments pursuant to regulatory authorizations; non-lease costs associated with our finance lease satellites; and in-orbit incentives relating to certain satellites; as well as commitments for satellite service arrangements.

Contingencies

Patents and Intellectual Property

Many entities, including some of our competitors, have or may have in the future patents and other intellectual property rights that cover or affect products or services directly or indirectly related to those that we offer. We may not be aware of all patents and other intellectual property rights that our products and services may potentially infringe. Damages in patent infringement cases can be substantial, and in certain circumstances can be tripled. Further, we cannot estimate the extent to which we may be required in the future to obtain licenses with respect to intellectual property rights held by others and the availability and cost of any such licenses. Various parties have asserted patent and other intellectual property rights with respect to our products and services. We cannot be certain that these parties do not own the rights they claim, that these rights are not valid or that our products and services do not infringe on these rights. Further, we cannot be certain that we would be able to obtain licenses from these parties on commercially reasonable terms or, if we were unable to obtain such licenses, that we would be able to redesign our products and services to avoid infringement.

Pending BSS Transaction

In connection with the pending BSS Transaction, on May 19, 2019, we entered into the Master Transaction Agreement with DISH Network that provides, among other things, that if the BSS Transaction is consummated, DISH Network will generally assume liabilities primarily associated with the ownership and operation of the BSS Business.  The Master Transaction Agreement also provides that we and DISH Network will indemnify each other against certain losses with respect to breaches of certain representations and covenants and certain retained and assumed liabilities, respectively. 

Separation Agreement and Share Exchange

In connection with our spin-off from DISH in 2008 (the “Spin-off”), we entered into a separation agreement with DISH Network that provides, among other things, for the division of certain liabilities, including liabilities resulting from litigation. Under the terms of the separation agreement, we assumed certain liabilities that relate to our business, including certain designated liabilities for acts or omissions that occurred prior to the Spin-off. Certain specific provisions govern intellectual property related claims under which, we will generally only be liable for our acts or omissions following the Spin-off and DISH Network will indemnify us for any liabilities or damages resulting from intellectual property claims relating to the period prior to the Spin-off, as well as DISH Network’s acts or omissions following the Spin-off. Additionally, in connection with the Share Exchange, we entered into the Share Exchange Agreement and other agreements which provide, among other things, for the division of certain liabilities, including liabilities relating to taxes, intellectual property and employees and liabilities resulting from litigation and the assumption of certain liabilities that relate to the transferred businesses and assets. These agreements also contain additional indemnification provisions between us and DISH Network for certain pre-existing liabilities and legal proceedings.

Litigation

We are involved in a number of legal proceedings concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of our business activities. Many of these proceedings are at preliminary stages and/or seek an indeterminate amount of damages. We regularly evaluate the status of the legal proceedings in which we are involved to assess whether a loss is probable and to determine if accruals are appropriate. We record an accrual for litigation and other loss contingencies when we determine that a loss is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. If accruals are not appropriate, we further evaluate each legal proceeding to assess whether an estimate of possible loss or range of loss can be made. There can be no assurance that legal proceedings against us will be resolved in amounts that will not differ from the amounts of our recorded accruals. Legal fees and other costs of defending litigation are charged to expense as incurred.

For certain cases, management is unable to predict with any degree of certainty the outcome or provide a meaningful estimate of the possible loss or range of possible loss because, among other reasons, (i) the proceedings are in various stages; (ii) damages have not been sought or specified; (iii) damages are unsupported, indeterminate and/or exaggerated in management’s opinion; (iv) there is uncertainty as to the outcome of pending trials, appeals or motions; (v) there are significant factual issues to be resolved; and/or (vi) there are novel legal issues or unsettled legal theories

to be presented or a large number of parties are involved (as with many patent-related cases). Except as described below, however, management does not believe, based on currently available information, that the outcomes of these proceedings will have a material effect on our financial condition, operating results or cash flows, though there is no assurance that the resolution and outcomes of these proceedings, individually or in the aggregate, will not be material to our financial condition, operating results or cash flows for any particular period, depending, in part, upon the operating results for such period.

We intend to vigorously defend the proceedings against us. In the event that a court or jury ultimately rules against us, we may be subject to adverse consequences, including, without limitation, substantial damages, which may include treble damages, fines, penalties, compensatory damages and/or other equitable or injunctive relief that could require us to materially modify our business operations or certain products or services that we offer to our consumers.

Elbit

On January 23, 2015, Elbit Systems Land and C4I LTD and Elbit Systems of America Ltd. (together referred to as “Elbit”) filed a complaint against our subsidiary Hughes Network Systems, L.L.C. (“HNS”), as well as against Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations, LLC, Bluetide Communications, Inc. and Helm Hotels Group, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,240,073 (the “073 patent”) and 7,245,874 (“874 patent”). The 073 patent is entitled “Reverse Link for a Satellite Communication Network” and the 874 patent is entitled “Infrastructure for Telephony Network.” Elbit alleges that the 073 patent is infringed by broadband satellite systems that practice the Internet Protocol Over Satellite standard. Elbit alleges that the 874 patent is infringed by the manufacture and sale of broadband satellite systems that provide cellular backhaul service via connections to E1 or T1 interfaces at cellular backhaul base stations. On April 2, 2015, Elbit filed an amended complaint removing Helm Hotels Group as a defendant, but making similar allegations against a new defendant, Country Home Investments, Inc. On November 3 and 4, 2015 and January 22, 2016, the defendants filed petitions before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) challenging the validity of the patents in suit, which the USPTO subsequently declined to institute. On April 13, 2016, the defendants answered Elbit’s complaint. At Elbit’s request, on June 26, 2017, the court dismissed Elbit’s claims of infringement against all parties other than HNS. Trial commenced on July 31, 2017. On August 7, 2017, the jury returned a verdict that the 073 patent was valid and infringed, and awarded Elbit $21 million. The jury also found that such infringement of the 073 patent was not willful and that the 874 patent was not infringed. On March 30, 2018, the court ruled on post-trial motions, upholding the jury’s findings and awarding Elbit attorneys’ fees in an amount that has not yet been specified. Elbit has requested an award of $14 million of attorneys’ fees. On April 27, 2018, HNS filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Oral argument was held on May 8, 2019. On June 25, 2019, the Federal Circuit issued an Opinion and Order affirming the court’s judgment and holding that it did not yet have jurisdiction to review the court’s decision to award attorney’s fees. On August 8, 2019, HNS filed a combined petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc with the Federal Circuit. As a result of the Federal Circuit’s rulings, as of June 30, 2019, we have recorded an accrual of $32 million, reflecting the $21 million jury verdict and $11 million of pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, attorney’s fees, pre-verdict supplemental damages and post-verdict damages through the 073 patent’s expiration. As of December 31, 2018, we have recorded an accrual of $3 million with respect to this liability.  Any eventual payments made with respect to the ultimate outcome of this matter may be different from our accruals and such differences could be significant. 

Realtime Data LLC

On May 8, 2015, Realtime Data LLC (“Realtime”) filed suit against EchoStar Corporation and our subsidiary HNS in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,378,992 (the “992 patent”), entitled “Content Independent Data Compression Method and System;” 7,415,530 (the “530 patent”), entitled “System and Methods for Accelerated Data Storage and Retrieval,” and 8,643,513 (the “513 patent”), entitled “Data Compression System and Methods.”  On September 14, 2015, Realtime amended its complaint, additionally alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 9,116,908 (the “908 patent”), entitled “System and Methods for Accelerated Data Storage and Retrieval.” On February 14, 2017, Realtime filed a second suit against EchoStar Corporation and our subsidiary HNS in the same District Court, alleging infringement of four additional U.S. Patents, Nos. 7,358,867 (the “867 patent”), entitled “Content Independent Data Compression Method and System;” 8,502,707 (the “707 patent”), entitled “Data Compression Systems and Methods;” 8,717,204 (the “204 patent”), entitled “Methods for Encoding and Decoding Data;” and 9,054,728 (the “728 patent”), entitled “Data Compression System and Methods.” On February 13, 2018, we filed petitions before the USPTO challenging the validity of all claims asserted against us from the 707

patent, as well as one of the asserted claims of the 728 patent. On September 5, 2018, the USPTO declined to institute proceedings for the petition that we had filed against the 728 patent. On September 12, 2018, the USPTO instituted proceedings to review the validity of the asserted claims of the 707 patent. In a stipulation filed on October 24, 2018, Realtime voluntarily elected not to pursue any previously asserted claims from the 992, 530, 513, 908, 867 and 204 patents. Realtime is an entity that seeks to license an acquired patent portfolio without itself practicing any of the claims recited therein. In February 2019, we entered into a settlement agreement with Realtime and the case was dismissed with prejudice.

Shareholder Litigation

On July 2, 2019, the City of Hallandale Beach Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Personnel Retirement Trust, purporting to sue on behalf of a class of EchoStar Corporation’s shareholders, filed a complaint in the District Court of Clark County, Nevada against our directors, Charles W. Ergen, R. Stanton Dodge, Anthony M. Federico, Pradman P. Kaul, C. Michael Schroeder, Jeffrey R. Tarr, William D. Wade, and Michael T. Dugan, our officer, David J. Rayner, EchoStar Corporation and our subsidiaries BSS Corp. and HSS, and DISH and its subsidiary Merger Sub. The complaint alleges that Mr. Ergen, the other members of our board of directors and the officer defendants breached their fiduciary duties to our stockholders by approving the pending BSS Transaction for inadequate consideration and pursuant to an unfair and conflicted process and that EchoStar Corporation, DISH and the officer and other entity defendants aided and abetted such breaches. The plaintiffs seek equitable relief, including the issuance of additional DISH Common Stock, and monetary relief and other costs and disbursements, including attorneys’ fees on behalf of the purported class. We intend to vigorously defend this case. We cannot predict its outcome with any degree of certainty.

Other

In addition to the above actions, we are subject to various other legal proceedings and claims, which arise in the ordinary course of business. As part of our ongoing operations, we are subject to various inspections, audits, inquiries, investigations and similar actions by third parties, as well as by governmental/regulatory authorities responsible for enforcing the laws and regulations to which we may be subject. Further, under the federal False Claims Act, private parties have the right to bring qui tam, or “whistleblower,” suits against companies that submit false claims for payments to, or improperly retain overpayments from, the federal government. Some states have adopted similar state whistleblower and false claims provisions. In addition, we from time to time receive inquiries from federal, state and foreign agencies regarding compliance with various laws and regulations.

In our opinion, the amount of ultimate liability with respect to any of these other actions is unlikely to materially affect our financial position, results of operations or cash flows, though the resolutions and outcomes, individually or in the aggregate, could be material to our financial position, operating results or cash flows for any particular period, depending, in part, upon the operating results for such period.

We also indemnify our directors, officers and employees for certain liabilities that might arise from the performance of their responsibilities for us. Additionally, in the normal course of its business, we enter into contracts pursuant to which we may make a variety of representations and warranties and indemnify the counterparty for certain losses. Our possible exposure under these arrangements cannot be reasonably estimated as this involves the resolution of claims made, or future claims that may be made, against us or our officers, directors or employees, the outcomes of which are unknown and not currently predictable or estimable.