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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Except for the changes set forth below, the Company's commitments as of March 31, 2018 and through the date these condensed consolidated financial statements were issued did not materially change from the amounts set forth in the Company's 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Purchase Obligations
In the first quarter 2018, the Company entered into a non-cancelable arrangement for cloud computing services. As of March 31, 2018, future payments under that contractual obligation are as follows (in thousands):
2018
$
1,500

2019
3,400

2020
3,400

2021
3,400

2022
3,400

Total
$
15,100


Leases
In May 2018, the Company entered into a new office lease for one of its foreign locations. The future payments under that operating lease for each of the next five years and thereafter are as follows (in thousands):
2018
$
2,461

2019
2,749

2020
2,749

2021
2,749

2022
2,749

Thereafter
6,187

Total minimum lease payments
$
19,644


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, 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 (the "Delaware Action"). In the Delaware Action, 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 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 denied the motion on November 17, 2017. 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. The Company filed a Request for Rehearing and Reconsideration with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on November 1, 2017, which was also denied. In the Delaware Action, the Company filed a motion on March 5, 2018 for summary judgment that it does not infringe the asserted patents and that IBM may not claim an earlier priority date for its patent relating to preserving state information in online transactions to overcome the Company’s challenge that the patent is invalid. The Company also filed a motion to exclude IBM’s damages expert's testimony, on the ground that the expert's opinions of IBM’s damages claim do not meet the requisite standard for expert testimony. On March 5, 2018, IBM moved for summary judgment that certain asserted claims of IBM’s patent relating to preserving state information in online transactions are not invalid, that certain prior art references raised by the Company do not anticipate or render obvious asserted claims of two of IBM’s patents, and that the Company cannot claim certain affirmative defenses. IBM filed a motion to preclude the Company’s damages or technical expert from referencing alternatives to the allegedly infringing technologies, but did not ask the court to exclude either of their testimonies in full. The parties participated in a mediation on the case before a federal magistrate judge in Delaware on April 3, 2018.  No settlement was reached at that mediation. A hearing on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment, and on the parties’ respective challenges to expert witness testimony, subsequently was held on April 24, 2018 and the court has taken the motions under advisement. There is no set ruling date. Trial is scheduled to commence on July 16, 2018 in the Delaware Action. On May 9, 2016, the Company filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against IBM (the "Illinois Action"). The Company alleges that IBM has infringed and continues to willfully infringe one of the Company’s patents relating to location-based services. The Company intends to seek damages and injunctive relief for IBM’s infringement of this patent. On December 20, 2016, IBM filed a motion to dismiss this case, and the court denied that motion. 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 responses on September 6, 2017. The Patent Office denied one petition and instituted a review of the Company’s patent in response to the other petition, but such review did not include all claims requested by IBM. On May 1, 2018, the Patent Office stated that it would institute review of the claims that were not previously under review based on a recent Supreme Court decision (SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu) finding that the Patent Office must institute review of either all or none of claims petitioners seek to review. A trial date is not yet set in the Illinois Action. The Company plans to vigorously defend against the claims filed by IBM in the Delaware Action and the challenges to the Company’s patent in the Illinois Action.
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 the IBM matter described above), 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 reasonably estimable. Those 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 those 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 3Discontinued Operations and Other Business Dispositions), the Company agreed to indemnify the buyer for certain tax and other matters. The indemnification liabilities were initially 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 to arise under the indemnifications in excess of amounts accrued as of March 31, 2018 is approximately $19.0 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.