Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

(8) Commitments and Contingencies

(a) Royalty Commitments - We have entered into various license agreements that require payment of royalties based on a specified percentage of the sales of licensed products (1% to 14%). These royalty expenses are recognized on an as-earned basis and recorded in the year earned as a component of cost of sales. Annual royalty expenses associated with these agreements were approximately $3,611, $3,040 and $1,853, respectively, for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2013, 2012 and 2011.

(b) Purchase Commitments - Excluding the operating lease commitments reflected in Note 8 (c) below, we have purchase commitments primarily for inventory and service items as part of the normal course of business. Commitments made under these obligations are $7,921 and $170 for fiscal 2014 and 2015, respectively. No purchase commitments have been made beyond fiscal 2015.

(c) Operating Lease Commitments - Meridian and its subsidiaries are lessees of (i) certain office and warehouse buildings in the U.S., Europe and Australia; (ii) automobiles for use by the direct sales forces in the U.S. and Europe; and (iii) certain office equipment such as facsimile and copier machines across all business units, under operating lease agreements that expire at various dates. Amounts charged to expense under operating leases were $1,744, $1,524 and $1,391 for fiscal 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Operating lease commitments for each of the five succeeding fiscal years are as follows: fiscal 2014—$1,370, fiscal 2015—$922, fiscal 2016—$670, fiscal 2017—$342, and fiscal 2018—$320.

(d) Litigation - We are a party to various litigation matters from time to time that we believe are in the normal course of business. The ultimate resolution of these matters is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

(e) Indemnifications - In conjunction with certain contracts and agreements, we provide routine indemnifications whose terms range in duration and in some circumstances are not explicitly defined. The maximum obligation under some such indemnifications is not explicitly stated and, as a result of our having no history of paying such indemnifications, cannot be reasonably estimated. We have not made any payments for these indemnifications and no liability is recorded at September 30, 2013 or September 30, 2012. We believe that if we were to incur a loss on any of these matters, the loss would not have a material effect on our financial condition.