Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

13.           COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

At December 31, 2012, the Company was obligated under operating and capital leases, expiring at various dates through 2019, covering facility space and equipment as follows (in thousands):

	Operating		Capital
2013	$	689	$	20
2014		700		14
2015		682		10
2016		705
2017		728
thereafter		1,196

The operating lease contains provisions for escalations and for facility maintenance. Total rent expense was approximately $0.7 million in each of 2012 and 2011.

The Company has severance arrangements for key and virtually all other employees of the Company that provide for payment of a portion of their salary and continuance of their benefits for their severance period, in the event they are involuntarily terminated. The severance periods range from a week to a number of months depending on the length of service and/or level of the employee within the Company. Had all such key and other covered employees been terminated at December 31, 2012, for a reason other than a change in control, the estimated total severance and benefits would have approximated $2.5 million. In addition, two executive officers have change in control agreements entitling them to certain additional benefits totaling $1.5 million that would be payable in the event of a change in control that resulted in their termination or resignation for good reason.

At December 31, 2012, the Company has firm purchase commitments for inventory components of $2.3 million to be delivered during 2013 and commitments for hosting services of $2.6 million over the next three years.

The Company received a letter of notification, dated March 10, 2011, from counsel for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Turner Network Television, Inc., Cable News Network, Inc., and The Cartoon Network, Inc. ("Turner") alleging that the Company is obligated to indemnify Turner as a result of a recently filed patent infringement action against Turner by Multimedia Patent Trust ("MPT") in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Chyron supplies various products to Turner. The Company notified Turner that its request is without merit. The Company believes Turner's request for indemnification lacks merit because its products do not infringe any of MPT's patents and it is not obligated to indemnify Turner for those portions of its products that are allegedly involved. Should any of such parts of its products be found to be infringing, then indemnification should lawfully be sought from the Company's outside supplier of such parts and not Chyron. The Company has denied Turner's request. Based on the Company's current knowledge, it believes that the amount of reasonably possible loss or range of loss is not reasonably estimable. Moreover, legal matters are inherently unpredictable and subject to significant uncertainties, some of which are beyond the Company's control. As such, there can be no assurance that the final outcome will not have a material adverse effect upon the Company's financial condition and results of operations.

The Company is not a party to any other legal proceedings that it believes will have a material impact on its business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.