![]() For example, in October 2015, the highest court in the European Union invalidated reliance on the US-EU Safe Harbor regime as one of the legally recognized mechanisms under which the personal data of European citizens could be transferred to the United States. In addition, the interpretation of privacy and data protection laws and regulations and their application to online services are unclear, evolving and in a state of flux. Any failure by us to comply with these terms or privacy related laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental authorities or others, which could harm our business. Our privacy policies and user agreements describe our practices concerning the use, storage, transmission and disclosure of personal information, including member, visitor and user data. We are also subject to federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy and protection of member data. Internet search engines could also change their methodologies in ways that adversely affect our ability to optimize our page rankings within their search results. Any such increased competition could cause pricing pressure, loss of business or decreased member activity, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results. Our competitors may announce new products, services or enhancements that better address changing industry standards or the needs of members and customers, such as mobile access or different market focus. ![]() We also compete against smaller companies that focus on groups of professionals within a specific industry or vertical. Additionally, we face competition from a number of companies outside the United States that provide online professional networking solutions. Further, some of these companies are partnering with third parties to offer products and services that could compete with ours. Other companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter are developing or could develop solutions that compete with ours. The space for online professional networks is rapidly evolving. For example, we enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, and confidentiality agreements with third parties. ![]() We seek to protect our trade secrets through a combination of physical controls and contractual restrictions. We hold a growing portfolio of issued patents of varied duration in the United States and internationally, and regularly file patent applications to protect intellectual property that we believe is important to our business. We believe the duration of our patents is adequate relative to the expected lives of our products. We register copyrights in many of our online training videos. Our trademarks and registered trademarks in the United States and other countries include “LinkedIn” and the “in” design mark, as well as others. We pursue the registration of our domain names, trademarks, and service marks in the United States and in many locations outside the United States. We also rely on a combination of trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, domain names and patents to protect our intellectual property.
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