Note 13. Commitments & Contingencies

Legal Matters

The Company is subject to routine legal claims, proceedings, and investigations incident to its business activities, including claims, proceedings, and investigations relating to commercial disputes and employment matters. The Company also receives from time to time information claiming that products sold by the Company infringe or may infringe patent, trademark, or other intellectual property rights of third parties. One or more such claims of potential infringement could lead to litigation, the need to obtain licenses, the need to alter a product to avoid infringement, a settlement or judgment, or some other action or material loss by the Company, which also could adversely affect the Company’s overall ability to protect its product designs and ultimately limit its future success in the marketplace. In addition, the Company is occasionally subject to non-routine claims, proceedings, or investigations.

The Company regularly assesses such matters to determine the degree of probability that the Company will incur a material loss as a result of such matters as well as the range of possible loss. An estimated loss contingency is accrued in the Company’s financial statements if it is probable the Company will incur a loss and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. The Company reviews all claims, proceedings, and investigations at least quarterly and establishes or adjusts any accruals for such matters to reflect the impact of negotiations, settlements, advice of legal counsel, and other information and events pertaining to a particular matter. All legal costs associated with such matters are expensed as incurred.

Set forth is a description of certain litigation to which the Company is a party:

Cleveland Golf Litigation. On October 18, 2013, Dunlop Sports Co., Ltd., a Japanese Corporation, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Roger Cleveland Golf Company, Inc., which sells golf equipment under the Cleveland and Cleveland Golf trademarks (“Cleveland Golf”), filed a complaint against Callaway Golf Company in the United States District Court - Central District of California (Case 8:13-cv-01642). The Complaint alleges that Callaway’s use on its Callaway branded Mack Daddy 2 Wedges of the phrase “Designed by Roger Cleveland” constitutes trademark infringement (and related claims) of Cleveland Golf’s “Cleveland” trademark. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages, costs and attorneys’ fees, as well as injunctive relief. Roger Cleveland has been an employee of Callaway since 1996 and has been designing golf clubs for Callaway for over 17 years.

Historically, the claims, proceedings and investigations brought against the Company, individually, and in the aggregate, have not had a material adverse effect upon the consolidated results of operations, cash flows, or financial position of the Company. The Company believes that it has valid legal defenses to the matters currently pending against the Company, including the Cleveland Golf litigation noted above. These matters, including the matter specifically described above, are inherently unpredictable and the resolutions of these matters are subject to many uncertainties and the outcomes are not predictable with assurance. Consequently, management is unable to estimate the ultimate aggregate amount of monetary loss, amounts covered by insurance, or the financial impact that will result from such matters. Management believes that the final resolution of the current matters pending against the Company, individually and in the aggregate, will not have a material adverse effect upon the Company’s consolidated financial position. The Company’s results of operations or cash flows, however, could be materially affected in any particular period by the unfavorable resolution of one or more of these contingencies.

Unconditional Purchase Obligations

During the normal course of its business, the Company enters into agreements to purchase goods and services, including purchase commitments for production materials, endorsement agreements with professional golfers and other endorsers, employment and consulting agreements, and intellectual property licensing agreements pursuant to which the Company is required to pay royalty fees. It is not possible to determine the amounts the Company will ultimately be required to pay under these agreements as they are subject to many variables including performance-based bonuses, reductions in payment obligations if designated minimum performance criteria are not achieved, and severance arrangements. As of September 30, 2013, the Company has entered into many of these contractual agreements with terms ranging from one to five years. The minimum obligation that the Company is required to pay under these agreements is $60,566,000 over the next five years. In addition, the Company also enters into unconditional purchase obligations with various vendors and suppliers of goods and services in the normal course of operations through purchase orders or other documentation or that are undocumented except for an invoice. Such unconditional purchase obligations are generally outstanding for periods less than a year and are settled by cash payments upon delivery of goods and services and are not reflected in this total.

Future purchase commitments as of September 30, 2013, are as follows (in thousands):



Remainder of 2013	$	43,781
2014	13,298
2015	2,327
2016	839
2017	321
	$	60,566

Other Contingent Contractual Obligations

During its normal course of business, the Company has made certain indemnities, commitments and guarantees under which it may be required to make payments in relation to certain transactions. These include (i) intellectual property indemnities to the Company’s customers and licensees in connection with the use, sale and/or license of Company product or trademarks, (ii) indemnities to various lessors in connection with facility leases for certain claims arising from such facilities or leases, (iii) indemnities to vendors and service providers pertaining to the goods and services provided to the Company or based on the negligence or willful misconduct of the Company, and (iv) indemnities involving the accuracy of representations and warranties in certain contracts. In addition, the Company has consulting agreements that provide for payment of nominal fees upon the issuance of patents and/or the commercialization of research results. The Company has also issued guarantees in the form of a standby letter of credit as security for contingent liabilities under certain workers’ compensation insurance policies.

The duration of these indemnities, commitments and guarantees varies, and in certain cases, may be indefinite. The majority of these indemnities, commitments and guarantees do not provide for any limitation on the maximum amount of future payments the Company could be obligated to make. Historically, costs incurred to settle claims related to indemnities have not been material to the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, the Company believes the likelihood is remote that material payments under the commitments and guarantees described above will have a material effect on the Company’s financial condition. The fair value of indemnities, commitments and guarantees that the Company issued during the nine months ended September 30, 2013 was not material to the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Employment Contracts

In addition, the Company has made contractual commitments to each of its officers and certain other employees providing for severance payments, including salary continuation, upon the termination of employment by the Company for convenience or by the officer for substantial cause. In addition, in order to assure that the officers would continue to provide independent leadership consistent with the Company’s best interest, the contracts also generally provide for certain protections in the event of an actual or threatened change in control of the Company. These protections include the payment of certain severance benefits, such as salary continuation, upon the termination of employment following a change in control.