Note 13 - Commitments and contingencies

12 Months Ended

Jan. 28, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

13.          Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

Leases

Our primary facility in Milpitas, California is leased under a non-cancelable lease, which expires in September 2012.  We also lease facilities in Canada, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, San Diego, California, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam, and vehicles in Israel under non-cancelable leases.  Future minimum annual payments under operating leases are as follows (in thousands, except for years):

Fiscal years	Operating Leases
2013	$	3,054
2014		1,420
2015		936
2016		747
2017		747
Thereafter		618
Total minimum lease payments	$	7,522

Rent expense, recorded on a straight-line basis, was $2.6 million, $2.6 million and $2.0 million for fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.  

Purchase commitments

We place non-cancelable orders to purchase semiconductor products from our suppliers on an eight to twelve week lead-time basis.  As of January 28, 2012, the total amount of outstanding non-cancelable purchase orders was approximately $11.5 million.

Indemnifications

             In certain limited circumstances, we have agreed and may agree in the future to indemnify certain customers against patent infringement claims from third parties related to our intellectual property.  In these limited circumstances, the terms and conditions of sale generally limit the scope of the available remedies to a variety of industry-standard methods including, but not limited to, a right to control the defense or settlement of any claim, procure the right for continued usage, and a right to replace or modify the infringing products to make them non-infringing.  To date, we have not incurred or accrued any significant costs related to any claims under such indemnification provisions.

Royalties

We pay royalties for the right to sell certain products under various license agreements.  During fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, we recorded royalty expense of $2.0 million, $3.2 million and $2.9 million, respectively, which was recorded to cost of revenue.

Our wholly owned subsidiary, Sigma Designs Israel S.D.I. Ltd., participated in programs sponsored by the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, or the OCS, for the support of research and development activities that we conducted in Israel.  Through January 28, 2012, we had obtained grants from the OCS aggregating to $4.8 million for certain of our research and development projects in Israel.  We completed the most recent of these projects in 2007.  We are obligated to pay royalties to the OCS, amounting to 3% - 4.5% of the sales of certain products up to an amount equal to 100% - 150% of the grants received.  As of January 28, 2012, our remaining obligation under these programs was $0.6 million.

Contingencies

Litigation

On August 6, 2011, Powerline Innovations, LLC, or Powerline, filed suit against us, certain of our subsidiaries and many other named defendants, including Qualcomm Incorporated, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., Broadcom Corporation and ST Microelectronics N.V. in the United States District Court for the Easter District of Texas asserting infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,471,190.  The Powerline complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief.  At this time, we are unable to determine the outcome of this matter and, accordingly, cannot estimate the potential financial impact this action could have on our business, operating results, cash flows or financial position.

From time to time, we are involved in claims and legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business.  We expect that the number and significance of these matters will increase as our business expands.  In particular, we could face an increasing number of patent and other intellectual property claims as the number of products and competitors in our industry grows.  Any claims or proceedings against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time, result in the diversion of significant operational resources or cause us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements which, if required, may not be available on terms favorable to us or at all.  If an unfavorable outcome were to occur against us, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact on our financial position and results of operations for the period in which the unfavorable outcome occurs and, potentially, in future periods.

Third-party licensed technology

We license technologies from various third parties and incorporate that technology into our products.  From time to time, we are audited by licensors of these technologies for compliance with the terms of these licenses.  Currently, we are under two such audits and have recently been notified of a third.  We have been found to not be in compliance with certain obligations under certain arrangements and have accrued estimated penalties of $2.0 million.  If we continue to be found not in compliance with the terms of the applicable license contracts, we could be subject to revocation of the applicable license or other penalties, including additional cash penalties.