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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation

In the ordinary course of business, the Company is involved in various pending and threatened litigation matters related to operations, some of which include claims for punitive or exemplary damages. The Company believes no actions, other than the matters listed below, depart from customary litigation incidental to its business. As background to the disclosure below, please note the following:

These matters raise difficult and complicated factual and legal issues and are subject to many uncertainties and complexities.

The Company reviews all of its litigation on an on-going basis and follows the authoritative provisions for accounting for contingencies when making accrual and disclosure decisions. A liability must be accrued if (a) it is probable that a liability has been incurred and (b) the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. If one of these criteria has not been met, disclosure is required when there is at least a reasonable possibility that a material loss may be incurred. When assessing reasonably possible and probable outcomes, the Company bases decisions on the assessment of the ultimate outcome following all appeals. Legal fees associated with defending litigation matters are expensed as incurred.

DataTreasury Corporation v. Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. et. al.

On May 28, 2013, DataTreasury Corporation (the “Plaintiff”) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company and multiple banks in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.  Plaintiff alleges that the Company infringes the patents at issue by making, using, selling or offering to sell systems and methods for image-based check processing. The Plaintiff seeks damages, injunctive relief and attorneys' fees for the alleged infringement of two patents.  On October 25, 2013, the Company filed for covered business method ("CBM") post-grant reviews of the validity of the Plaintiff's asserted patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO").  The Company filed a Motion to Stay the case pending the outcome of the CBM post-grant reviews. On April 29, 2014, the USPTO instituted the Company's two CBM petitions. On August 14, 2014, the Court granted the Company's Motion to Stay the litigation pending the outcome of the CBM review proceedings. On April 29, 2015, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") issued final written decisions on the Company’s two CBM petitions holding that all claims of the Plaintiff’s two patents are unpatentable ("Final Written Decision"). On August 27, 2015, the Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of the USPTO’s Final Written Decisions. On October 13, 2016, the Federal Circuit affirmed the USPTO's Final Written Decisions finding the Plaintiff's two patents to be unpatentable. On January 11, 2017, the Plaintiff filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States seeking to appeal certain findings of the Federal Circuit. We do not believe a liability is probable or reasonably estimable and, therefore, have not recorded a liability for these claims.

Acquired Contingencies (SunGard)

The Company became responsible for certain contingencies which were assumed in the SunGard acquisition. The Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2016 includes a liability of $104 million mostly related to unclaimed property examinations and tax compliance matters.

Reliance Trust Claims

Reliance Trust Company, the Company’s subsidiary, is named as a defendant in a class action arising out of its provision of services as the discretionary trustee for a 401(k) Plan for one of its customers. Plaintiffs in the action seek damages and attorneys’ fees, as well as equitable relief, for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The action also makes claims against the Plan's sponsor and recordkeeper. Reliance Trust Company is vigorously defending the action and believes that it has meritorious defenses. While we believe that the ultimate resolution of the matter will not have a material impact on our financial condition, we are unable at this time to make an estimate of potential losses arising from the action because the matter is at an early state and involves unresolved questions of fact and law.

Brazilian Tax Authorities Claims

In 2004, Proservvi Empreendimentos e Servicos, Ltda., the predecessor to Fidelity National Servicos de Tratamento de Documentos e Informatica Ltda. (“Servicos”), a subsidiary of Fidelity National Participacoes Ltda., our former item processing and remittance services operation in Brazil, acquired certain assets and employees and leased certain facilities from the Transpev Group (“Transpev”) in Brazil. Transpev’s remaining assets were later acquired by Prosegur, an unrelated third party. When Transpev discontinued its operations after the asset sale to Prosegur, it had unpaid federal taxes and social contributions owing to the Brazilian tax authorities. The Brazilian tax authorities brought a claim against Transpev and beginning in 2012 brought claims against Prosegur and Servicos on the grounds that Prosegur and Servicos were successors in interest to Transpev. To date, the Brazilian tax authorities filed nine claims against Servicos asserting potential tax liabilities of approximately $14 million. There are potentially 26 additional claims against Transpev/Prosegur for which Servicos is named as a co-defendant or may be named, but for which Servicos has not yet been served. These additional claims amount to approximately $56 million making the total potential exposure for all 35 claims approximately $70 million. We do not believe a liability for these 35 total claims is probable or reasonably estimable and, therefore, have not recorded a liability for any of these claims.

Indemnifications and Warranties

The Company generally indemnifies its clients, subject to certain limitations and exceptions, against damages and costs resulting from claims of patent, copyright, or trademark infringement associated solely with its customers' use of the Company's software applications or services. Historically, the Company has not made any material payments under such indemnifications, but continues to monitor the conditions that are subject to the indemnifications to identify whether it is probable that a loss has occurred, and would recognize any such losses when they are estimable. In addition, the Company warrants to customers that its software operates substantially in accordance with the software specifications. Historically, no material costs have been incurred related to software warranties and no accruals for warranty costs have been made.

 Leases

The Company leases certain of its property under leases which expire at various dates. Several of these agreements include escalation clauses and provide for purchases and renewal options for periods ranging from one to five years.

Future minimum operating lease payments for leases with remaining terms greater than one year for each of the years in the five years ending December 31, 2021, and thereafter, in the aggregate, are as follows (in millions):

2017
$
96

2018
91

2019
67

2020
49

2021
33

Thereafter
65

Total
$
401



In addition, the Company has operating lease commitments relating to office equipment and computer hardware with annual lease payments of approximately $4 million per year that renew on a short-term basis. See Note 4 for information on the Company's capital lease obligations.

Rent expense incurred under all operating leases during the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, was $143 million, $93 million and $85 million, respectively.

Data Processing, Maintenance and Other Service Agreements.  The Company has agreements with various vendors, which expire between 2017 and 2023, principally for portions of its computer data processing operations and related functions. The Company’s estimated aggregate contractual obligation remaining under these agreements was approximately $557 million as of December 31, 2016. However, this amount could be more or less depending on various factors such as the inflation rate, foreign exchange rates, the introduction of significant new technologies, or changes in the Company’s data processing needs.