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Litigation and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2011

Note 18: Litigation and Contingencies

HP is involved in lawsuits, claims, investigations and proceedings, including those identified below, consisting of intellectual property, commercial, securities, employment, employee benefits and environmental matters that arise in the ordinary course of business. HP records a provision for a liability when management believes that it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. HP believes it has adequate provisions for any such matters, and, as of October 31, 2011, it was not reasonably possible that an additional material loss had been incurred in an amount in excess of the amounts already recognized on HP's financial statements. HP reviews these provisions at least quarterly and adjusts these provisions to reflect the impact of negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel, and other information and events pertaining to a particular case. Based on its experience, HP believes that any damage amounts claimed in the specific matters discussed below are not a meaningful indicator of HP's potential liability. Litigation is inherently unpredictable. However, HP believes that it has valid defenses with respect to legal matters pending against it. Nevertheless, cash flows or results of operations could be materially affected in any particular period by the unfavorable resolution of one or more of these contingencies.

Litigation, Proceedings and Investigations

Copyright levies. As described below, proceedings are ongoing or have been concluded involving HP in certain European Union ("EU") member countries, including litigation in Germany, Belgium and Austria, seeking to impose or modify levies upon equipment (such as multifunction devices ("MFDs"), personal computers ("PCs") and printers) and alleging that these devices enable producing private copies of copyrighted materials. Descriptions of some of the ongoing proceedings are included below. The levies are generally based upon the number of products sold and the per-product amounts of the levies, which vary. Some EU member countries that do not yet have levies on digital devices are expected to implement similar legislation to enable them to extend existing levy schemes, while some other EU member countries are expected to limit the scope of levy schemes and applicability in the digital hardware environment. HP, other companies and various industry associations have opposed the extension of levies to the digital environment and have advocated alternative models of compensation to rights holders.

VerwertungsGesellschaft Wort ("VG Wort"), a collection agency representing certain copyright holders, instituted legal proceedings against HP in the Stuttgart Civil Court seeking levies on printers. On December 22, 2004, the court held that HP is liable for payments regarding all printers using ASCII code sold in Germany but did not determine the amount payable per unit. HP appealed this decision in January 2005 to the Stuttgart Court of Appeals. On May 11, 2005, the Stuttgart Court of Appeals issued a decision confirming that levies are due. On June 6, 2005, HP filed an appeal to the German Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe. On December 6, 2007, the German Federal Supreme Court issued a judgment that printers are not subject to levies under the existing law. The court issued a written decision on January 25, 2008, and VG Wort subsequently filed an application with the German Federal Supreme Court under Section 321a of the German Code of Civil Procedure contending that the court did not consider their arguments. On May 9, 2008, the German Federal Supreme Court denied VG Wort's application. VG Wort appealed the decision by filing a claim with the German Federal Constitutional Court challenging the ruling that printers are not subject to levies. On September 21, 2010, the Constitutional Court published a decision holding that the German Federal Supreme Court erred by not referring questions on interpretation of German copyright law to the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") and therefore revoked the German Federal Supreme Court decision and remitted the matter to it. On July 21, 2011, the German Federal Supreme Court stayed the proceedings and referred several questions to the CJEU with regard to the interpretation of the European Copyright Directive.

In September 2003, VG Wort filed a lawsuit against Fujitsu Siemens Computer GmbH ("FSC") in the Munich Civil Court in Munich, Germany seeking levies on PCs. This is an industry test case in Germany, and HP has agreed not to object to the delay if VG Wort sues HP for such levies on PCs following a final decision against FSC. On December 23, 2004, the Munich Civil Court held that PCs are subject to a levy and that FSC must pay €12 plus compound interest for each PC sold in Germany since March 2001. FSC appealed this decision in January 2005 to the Munich Court of Appeals. On December 15, 2005, the Munich Court of Appeals affirmed the Munich Civil Court decision. FSC filed an appeal with the German Federal Supreme Court in February 2006. On October 2, 2008, the German Federal Supreme Court issued a judgment that PCs were not photocopiers within the meaning of the German copyright law that was in effect until December 31, 2007 and, therefore, not subject to the levies on photocopiers established by that law. VG Wort subsequently filed a claim with the German Federal Constitutional Court challenging that ruling. In January 2011, the Constitutional Court published a decision holding that the German Federal Supreme Court decision was inconsistent with the German Constitution and revoking the German Federal Supreme Court decision. The Constitutional Court remitted the matter to the German Federal Supreme Court for further action. On July 21, 2011, the German Federal Supreme Court stayed the proceedings and referred several questions to the CJEU with regard to the interpretation of the European Copyright Directive.

Reprobel, a cooperative society with the authority to collect and distribute the remuneration for reprography to Belgian copyright holders, requested HP by extra-judicial means to amend certain copyright levy declarations submitted for inkjet MFDs sold in Belgium from January 2005 to December 2009 to enable it to collect copyright levies calculated based on the generally higher copying speed when the MFDs are operated in draft print mode rather than when operated in normal print mode. In March 2010, HP filed a lawsuit against Reprobel in the French-speaking chambers of the Court of First Instance of Brussels seeking a declaratory judgment that no copyright levies are payable on sales of MFDs in Belgium or, alternatively, that copyright levies payable on such MFDs must be assessed based on the copying speed when operated in the normal print mode set by default in the device. The schedule for the court proceedings has been determined, and no decision from the court is expected before September 2012.

Based on industry opposition to the extension of levies to digital products, HP's assessments of the merits of various proceedings and HP's estimates of the units impacted and levies, HP has accrued amounts that it believes are adequate to address the matters described above. However, the ultimate resolution of these matters and the associated financial impact on HP, including the number of units impacted, the amount of levies imposed and the ability of HP to recover such amounts through increased prices, remains uncertain.

Skold, et al. v. Intel Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company is a lawsuit in which HP was joined on June 14, 2004 that is pending in state court in Santa Clara County, California. The lawsuit alleges that Intel Corporation ("Intel") misled the public by suppressing and concealing the alleged material fact that systems that use the Intel Pentium 4 processor are less powerful and slower than systems using the Intel Pentium III processor and processors made by a competitor of Intel. The lawsuit alleges that HP aided and abetted Intel's allegedly unlawful conduct. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages, restitution, attorneys' fees and costs, and certification of a nationwide class. On February 27, 2009, the court denied with prejudice plaintiffs' motion for nationwide class certification for a third time. On August 31, 2011, the California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's denial of class certification and remanded the case back to the trial court for further proceedings. On November 23, 2011, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking to certify a nationwide class asserting claims under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act and the California Unfair Competition Law. A hearing on plaintiffs' motion is currently scheduled for March 2, 2012.

Inkjet Printer Litigation. As described below, HP is involved in several lawsuits claiming breach of express and implied warranty, unjust enrichment, deceptive advertising and unfair business practices where the plaintiffs have alleged, among other things, that HP employed a "smart chip" in certain inkjet printing products in order to register ink depletion prematurely and to render the cartridge unusable through a built-in expiration date that is hidden, not documented in marketing materials to consumers, or both. The plaintiffs have also contended that consumers received false ink depletion warnings and that the smart chip limits the ability of consumers to use the cartridge to its full capacity or to choose competitive products.

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A consolidated lawsuit captioned In re HP Inkjet Printer Litigation is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California where the plaintiffs are seeking class certification, restitution, damages (including enhanced damages), injunctive relief, interest, costs, and attorneys' fees. On January 4, 2008, the court heard plaintiffs' motions for class certification and to add a class representative and HP's motion for summary judgment. On July 25, 2008, the court denied all three motions. On March 30, 2009, the plaintiffs filed a renewed motion for class certification. A hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for class certification scheduled for April 9, 2010 was postponed.

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A lawsuit captioned Blennis v. HP was filed on January 17, 2007 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California where the plaintiffs are seeking class certification, restitution, damages (including enhanced damages), injunctive relief, interest, costs, and attorneys' fees. A class certification hearing was scheduled for May 21, 2010 but was taken off the calendar.

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A lawsuit captioned Rich v. HP was filed against HP on May 22, 2006 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit alleges that HP designed its color inkjet printers to unnecessarily use color ink in addition to black ink when printing black and white images and text. The plaintiffs are seeking to certify a nationwide injunctive class and a California-only damages class. A class certification hearing was scheduled for May 7, 2010 but was taken off the calendar.

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Two class actions against HP and its subsidiary, Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co., are pending in Canada, one commenced in British Columbia in February 2006 and one commenced in Ontario in June 2006, where the plaintiffs are seeking class certification, restitution, declaratory relief, injunctive relief and unspecified statutory, compensatory and punitive damages.

On August 25, 2010, HP and the plaintiffs in In re HP Inkjet Printer Litigation, Blennis v. HP and Rich v. HP entered into an agreement to settle those lawsuits on behalf of the proposed classes, which agreement is subject to approval of the court before it becomes final. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the lawsuits will be consolidated, and eligible class members will each have the right to obtain e-credits not to exceed $5 million in the aggregate for use in purchasing printers or printer supplies through HP's website. As part of the proposed settlement, HP also agreed to provide class members with additional information regarding HP inkjet printer functionality and to change the content of certain software and user guide messaging provided to users regarding the life of inkjet printer cartridges. In addition, class counsel and the class representatives will be paid attorneys' fees and expenses and stipends. On March 29, 2011, the court granted final approval of the settlement. On April 27, 2011, certain class members who objected to the settlement filed an appeal of the court's order granting final approval of the settlement.

Goldblatt v. HP is a consumer class action filed against HP on December 1, 2011 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that HP printers have a design defect in the software installed on the printers which could allow hackers and unauthorized users to gain access to the printers, steal personal and confidential information from consumers and otherwise control and cause physical damage to the printers. The plaintiff also alleges that HP was aware of this security vulnerability and failed to disclose it to consumers. The complaint seeks certification of a nationwide class of purchasers of all HP printers and seeks unspecified damages, restitution, punitive damages, injunctive relief, attorneys' fees and costs.

Fair Labor Standards Act Litigation. HP is involved in several lawsuits in which the plaintiffs are seeking unpaid overtime compensation and other damages based on allegations that various employees of EDS or HP have been misclassified as exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and/or in violation of the California Labor Code or other state laws. Those matters include the following:

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Cunningham and Cunningham, et al. v. Electronic Data Systems Corporation is a purported collective action filed on May 10, 2006 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York claiming that current and former EDS employees allegedly involved in installing and/or maintaining computer software and hardware were misclassified as exempt employees. Another purported collective action, Steavens, et al. v. Electronic Data Systems Corporation, which was filed on October 23, 2007, is also now pending in the same court alleging similar facts. The Steavens case has been consolidated for pretrial purposes with the Cunningham case. On December 14, 2010, the court granted conditional certification of a class consisting of employees in 20 legacy EDS job codes in the consolidated Cunningham and Steavens matter. Plaintiffs also allege various state law class claims for misclassification, but plaintiffs have not yet sought class certification for those.

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Heffelfinger, et al. v. Electronic Data Systems Corporation is a class action filed in November 2006 in California Superior Court claiming that certain EDS information technology workers in California were misclassified as exempt employees. The case was subsequently transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which, on January 7, 2008, certified a class of information technology workers in California. On June 6, 2008, the court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs subsequently filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A hearing on the appeal was held in August 2011, and the decision is pending. Two other purported class actions originally filed in California Superior Court, Karlbom, et al. v. Electronic Data Systems Corporation, which was filed on March 16, 2009, and George, et al. v. Electronic Data Systems Corporation, which was filed on April 2, 2009, allege similar facts. The Karlbom case is pending in San Diego County Superior Court but has been temporarily stayed based on the pending Steavens consolidated matter. The George case was pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and had been consolidated for pretrial purposes with the Cunningham and Steavens cases. On September 9, 2011, the court granted a request by the plaintiffs' counsel in the George matter to amend the plaintiffs' complaint and sever the case from the Steavens consolidated matter. The plaintiff thereafter filed his first amended complaint on October 21, 2011. On November 23, 2011, the court transferred the George matter back to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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Blake, et al. v. Hewlett-Packard Company is a purported collective action filed on February 17, 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas claiming that a class of information technology and help desk support personnel were misclassified as exempt employees. No substantive rulings have been made in the case.

In addition to the above matters, on May 24, 2011, a purported collective action captioned Fenn, et al. v. Hewlett-Packard Company was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. The suit alleges that customer service representatives working in HP's U.S. call centers are not paid for time spent on start-up and shut-down tasks (such as booting up and shutting down their computers) in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. On December 12, 2011, the court denied plaintiff's motion for conditional class certification.

India Directorate of Revenue Intelligence Proceedings. As described below, Hewlett-Packard India Sales Private Ltd ("HPI"), a subsidiary of HP, and certain current and former HP employees have received show cause notices from the India Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (the "DRI") alleging underpayment of certain customs duties:

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On April 30 and May 10, 2010, the DRI issued show cause notices to HPI, seven current HP employees and one former HP employee alleging that HP has underpaid customs duties while importing products and spare parts into India and seeking to recover an aggregate of approximately $370 million, plus penalties. On June 2, 2010, the DRI issued an additional show cause notice to HPI and three current HPI employees alleging that HP failed to pay customs duties on the appropriate value of recovery CDs containing Microsoft operating systems and seeking to recover approximately $5.3 million, plus penalties. HP has deposited a total of approximately $16.7 million with the DRI and agreed to post a provisional bond in exchange for the DRI's agreement not to seize HP products and spare parts and not to interrupt the transaction of business by HP in India.

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On June 17, 2010, the DRI issued show cause notices to HPI and two current HPI employees regarding non-inclusion of the value of software contained in the products imported from third party original design manufacturers. The total amount of the alleged unpaid customs duties relating to such software, including the interest proposed to be demanded under these notices, is approximately $130,000, which amount HPI has deposited with the DRI. The DRI is also seeking to impose penalties.

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On October 1, 2010, in connection with an existing DRI investigation commenced against SAP AG, the DRI issued a show cause notice to HPI alleging underpayment of customs duties related to the importation of certain SAP software. The amount of the alleged duty differential is approximately $38,000, which amount has been deposited with the DRI. The DRI is also seeking to impose interest and penalties.

HP intends to contest each of the show cause notices through the judicial process. HP has responded to the show cause notices.

Russia GPO and Related Investigations. The German Public Prosecutor's Office ("German PPO") has been conducting an investigation into allegations that current and former employees of HP engaged in bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion relating to a transaction between Hewlett-Packard ISE GmbH in Germany, a former subsidiary of HP, and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. The approximately €35 million transaction, which was referred to as the Russia GPO deal, spanned the years 2001 to 2006 and was for the delivery and installation of an IT network.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have also been conducting an investigation into the Russia GPO deal and potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). Under the FCPA, a person or an entity could be subject to fines, civil penalties of up to $500,000 per violation and equitable remedies, including disgorgement and other injunctive relief. In addition, criminal penalties could range from the greater of $2 million per violation or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss from the violation.

In addition to information about the Russia GPO deal, the U.S. enforcement authorities have requested (i) information related to certain other transactions, including transactions in Russia, Serbia and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) subregion dating back to 2000, and (ii) information related to two former HP executives seconded to Russia and to whether HP personnel in Russia, Germany, Austria, Serbia, the Netherlands or CIS were involved in kickbacks or other improper payments to channel partners or state-owned or private entities.

HP is cooperating with these investigating agencies.

ECT Proceedings. In January 2011, the postal service of Brazil, Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos ("ECT"), notified HP that it had initiated administrative proceedings against an HP subsidiary in Brazil ("HP Brazil") to consider whether to suspend HP Brazil's right to bid and contract with ECT related to alleged improprieties in the bidding and contracting processes whereby employees of HP Brazil and employees of several other companies coordinated their bids for three ECT contracts in 2007 and 2008. In late July 2011, ECT notified HP it had decided to apply the penalties against HP Brazil, suspending HP Brazil's right to bid and contract with ECT for five years, based upon the evidence before it. In August 2011, HP filed petitions with ECT requesting that the decision be revoked and seeking injunctive relief to have the application of the penalties suspended until a final, non-appealable decision is made on the merits of the case. HP is currently awaiting a response from ECT on both petitions. Because ECT did not rule on the substance of HP's petitions in a timely manner, HP filed a lawsuit seeking similar relief from the court. The court of first instance has not decided the merits of HP's lawsuit, but has denied HP's request for injunctive relief suspending application of the penalties pending a final, non-appealable decision on the merits of the case. HP has appealed the denial of its request for injunctive relief, and that appeal is pending before the intermediate appellate court. The reporting judge assigned by the intermediate appellate court has issued a preliminary ruling denying the request for injunctive relief and reducing the length of the sanctions from five to two years. A decision by the intermediate appellate court is expected in early 2012.

Stockholder Litigation. As described below, HP is involved in stockholder litigation commenced against certain current and former HP executive officers and certain current and former members of the HP Board of Directors in which the plaintiffs are seeking to recover certain compensation paid by HP to the defendants and other damages:

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Heather M. Bendit, et al. v. Mark V. Hurd, et al. (formerly Henrietta Klein v. Mark V. Hurd, et al.), is a lawsuit filed on September 24, 2010 in California Superior Court alleging the individual defendants wasted corporate assets and breached their fiduciary duties by failing to implement and oversee HP's compliance with the FCPA.

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Saginaw Police & Fire Pension Fund v. Marc L. Andreessen, et al., is a lawsuit filed on October 19, 2010 in United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties and were unjustly enriched by consciously disregarding HP's alleged violations of the FCPA.

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A.J. Copeland v. Raymond J. Lane, et al., is a lawsuit filed on March 7, 2011 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties and wasted corporate assets in connection with HP's alleged violations of the FCPA, severance payments made to former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd, and HP's acquisition of 3PAR Inc. The lawsuit also alleges violations of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act in connection with HP's 2010 and 2011 proxy statements.

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Richard Gammel v. Hewlett-Packard Company, et al., is a putative securities class action filed on September 13, 2011 in the United States Court for the Central District of California alleging, among other things, that from November 22, 2010 to August 18, 2011, the defendants violated Section 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by concealing material information and making false statements about HP's business model and the future of webOS, the TouchPad and HP's PC business.

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Ernesto Espinoza v. Léo Apotheker, et al., is a lawsuit filed on September 21, 2011 in the United States Court for the Central District of California alleging, among other things, that the defendants violated Section 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by concealing material information and making false statements about HP's business model and the future of webOS, the TouchPad and HP's PC business. The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties, wasted corporate assets and were unjustly enriched when they authorized the Company's repurchase of its own stock on August 29, 2010 and July 21, 2011.

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Larry Salat v. Léo Apotheker, et al., is a lawsuit filed on September 21, 2011 in the United States Court for the Central District of California alleging, among other things, that the defendants violated Section 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by concealing material information and making false statements about HP's business model and the future of webOS, the TouchPad and HP's PC business. The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties, wasted corporate assets and were unjustly enriched when they authorized the Company's repurchase of its own stock on August 29, 2010 and July 21, 2011.

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Luis Gonzalez v. Léo Apotheker, et al., is a lawsuit filed on September 29, 2011 in California Superior Court alleging, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties, wasted corporate assets and were unjustly enriched by concealing material information and making false statements about HP's business model and the future of webOS, the TouchPad and HP's PC business and by authorizing the Company's repurchase of its own stock on August 29, 2010 and July 21, 2011.

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Richard Tyner v. Léo Apotheker, et al., is a lawsuit filed on October 5, 2011 in California Superior Court alleging, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties, wasted corporate assets and were unjustly enriched by concealing material information and making false statements about HP's business model and the future of webOS, the TouchPad and HP's PC business and by authorizing the Company's repurchase of its own stock on August 29, 2010 and July 21, 2011.

Environmental

Our operations and our products are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations concerning environmental protection, including laws addressing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of contaminated sites, the content of its products and the recycling, treatment and disposal of its products. In particular, HP faces increasing complexity in its product design and procurement operations as it adjusts to new and future requirements relating to the chemical and materials composition of its products, their safe use, and the energy consumption associated with those products, including requirements relating to climate change. We also are subject to legislation in an increasing number of jurisdictions that makes producers of electrical goods, including computers and printers, financially responsible for specified collection, recycling, treatment and disposal of past and future covered products (sometimes referred to as "product take-back legislation"). HP could incur substantial costs, its products could be restricted from entering certain jurisdictions, and it could face other sanctions, if it were to violate or become liable under environmental laws or if its products become non-compliant with environmental laws. HP's potential exposure includes fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims and clean up costs. The amount and timing of costs under environmental laws are difficult to predict.

HP is party to, or otherwise involved in, proceedings brought by U.S. or state environmental agencies under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), known as "Superfund," or state laws similar to CERCLA. HP is also conducting environmental investigations or remediations at several current or former operating sites pursuant to administrative orders or consent agreements with state environmental agencies.