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Commitments and Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2017
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES The Company's commitments as of September 30, 2017 did not materially change from the amounts set forth in the Company's 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Legal Matters and Other Contingencies From time to time, the Company is party to various legal proceedings incident to the operation of its business. For example, the Company currently is involved in proceedings brought by former employees and merchants, intellectual property infringement suits, customer lawsuits, and consumer class actions and suits alleging, among other things, violations of state consumer protection or privacy laws. The following is a brief description of significant legal proceedings. On March 2, 2016, International Business Machines Corporation ("IBM") filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against the Company. In the complaint, IBM alleges that the Company has infringed and continues to willfully infringe certain IBM patents that IBM claims relate to the presentation of applications and advertising in an interactive service, preserving state information in online transactions and single sign-on processes in a computing environment and seeks unspecified damages (including a request that the amount of compensatory damages be trebled), injunctive relief and costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. On December 13, 2016, the Company filed a motion to invalidate two of IBM’s patents relating to the presentation of applications and advertising on the grounds that such patents are patent-ineligible. The court held a hearing on the motion on June 5, 2017, but has not yet ruled on the motion. The court issued an order construing disputed terms in the patent claims on August 3, 2017. On March 24, 2017, the Company filed a petition for inter partes review with the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking to invalidate IBM’s asserted patent related to single sign-on processes. IBM filed its preliminary response on July 6, 2017. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied the Company’s petition for review on October 2, 2017. On May 9, 2016, the Company filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against IBM. The Company alleges that IBM has infringed and continues to willfully infringe one of the Company’s patents relating to location-based services. On December 20, 2016, IBM filed a motion to dismiss this case, and the court denied that motion. The Company intends to seek damages and injunctive relief for IBM’s infringement of this patent. The court held a Markman hearing on April 3, 2017, but has not yet construed the claims. On May 18, 2017, IBM filed two petitions for inter partes review with the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking to invalidate the Company’s patent relating to location-based services. The Company filed its preliminary response on September 6, 2017. The Company plans to vigorously defend against the claims filed by IBM and the challenges to the Company’s patent. In addition, other third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that the Company has infringed their intellectual property rights. The Company is subject to intellectual property disputes, including patent infringement claims, and expects that it will increasingly be subject to intellectual property infringement claims as its services expand in scope and complexity. The Company has in the past litigated such claims, and the Company is presently involved in several patent infringement and other intellectual property-related claims, including pending litigation or trademark disputes relating to, for example, the Company's Goods category, some of which could involve potentially substantial claims for damages or injunctive relief. The Company may also become more vulnerable to third-party claims as laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act are interpreted by the courts, and as the Company becomes subject to laws in jurisdictions where the underlying laws with respect to the potential liability of online intermediaries are either unclear or less favorable. The Company believes that additional lawsuits alleging that it has violated patent, copyright or trademark laws will be filed against it. Intellectual property claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and often costly to resolve, could require expensive changes in the Company's methods of doing business or the goods it sells, or could require it to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements. The Company also is subject to consumer claims or lawsuits relating to alleged violations of consumer protection or privacy rights and statutes, some of which could involve potentially substantial claims for damages, including statutory or punitive damages. Consumer and privacy related claims or lawsuits, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, damage awards, fines and penalties, injunctive relief or increased costs of doing business through adverse judgment or settlement, or require the Company to change its business practices, sometimes in expensive ways. The Company also is subject to, or in the future may become subject to, a variety of regulatory inquiries, audits, and investigations across the jurisdictions where the Company conducts its business, including, for example, inquiries related to consumer protection, employment matters and/or hiring practices, marketing practices, tax, unclaimed property and privacy rules and regulations. Any regulatory actions against the Company, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, damage awards, fines and penalties, injunctive relief or increased costs of doing business through adverse judgment or settlement, require the Company to change its business practices in expensive ways, require significant amounts of management time, result in the diversion of significant operational resources or otherwise harm the Company's business. The Company establishes an accrued liability for loss contingencies related to legal and regulatory matters when the loss is both probable and estimable. These accruals represent management's best estimate of probable losses and, in such cases, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of the amounts accrued. For certain of the matters described above, there are inherent and significant uncertainties based on, among other factors, the stage of the proceedings, developments in the applicable facts of law, or the lack of a specific damage claim. However, the Company believes that the amount of reasonably possible losses in excess of the amounts accrued for these matters would not have a material adverse effect on its business, consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The Company's accrued liabilities for loss contingencies related to legal and regulatory matters may change in the future as a result of new developments, including, but not limited to, the occurrence of new legal matters, changes in the law or regulatory environment, adverse or favorable rulings, newly discovered facts relevant to the matter, or changes in the strategy for the matter. Regardless of the outcome, litigation and other regulatory matters can have an adverse impact on the Company because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors. Indemnifications In connection with the dispositions of the Company's operations in Latin America (see Note 2, Discontinued Operations and Other Business Dispositions), the Company agreed to indemnify the buyer for certain tax and other matters. The indemnification liabilities were recorded at their fair value, estimated to be $5.4 million using a probability-weighted expected cash flow approach, upon closing of the transactions as an adjustment to the net loss on the dispositions within discontinued operations. The Company estimates that the total amount of obligations that are reasonably possible of arising under the indemnifications is $25.0 million. In the normal course of business to facilitate transactions related to its operations, the Company indemnifies certain parties, including employees, lessors, service providers, merchants, and counterparties to investment agreements and asset and stock purchase agreements with respect to various matters. The Company has agreed to hold certain parties harmless against losses arising from a breach of representations or covenants, or other claims made against those parties. These agreements may limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim. The Company is also subject to increased exposure to various claims as a result of its divestitures and acquisitions, particularly in cases where the Company is entering into new businesses in connection with such acquisitions. The Company may also become more vulnerable to claims as it expands the range and scope of its services and is subject to laws in jurisdictions where the underlying laws with respect to potential liability are either unclear or less favorable. In addition, the Company has entered into indemnification agreements with its officers, directors and underwriters, and the Company's bylaws contain similar indemnification obligations that cover officers, directors, employees and other agents. Except as noted above, it is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Historically, any payments that the Company has made under these agreements have not had a material impact on the operating results, financial position or cash flows of the Company.

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