implement new processes, or change our handling of information and business operations. In addition, any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any U.S. federal, state or foreign privacy, processing of personal information, consumer protection or e-marketing related laws, regulations, standards or other requirements to which we may be subject or other legal obligations relating to these matters, any regulatory inquiry, or any significant data breach, could adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, result in claims, investigations, proceedings or actions against us by individuals, consumer rights groups, private and public customers, governmental regulatory entities or others or other penalties or liabilities, or require us to change our operations and/or cease using certain data sets. We could incur significant costs in responding to any inquiries or investigating and defending such claims, investigations, proceedings or actions and, if found liable, pay significant damages or fines or be required to make changes to our business. Further, these proceedings and any subsequent adverse outcomes may subject us to significant negative publicity and an erosion of trust. If any of these events were to occur, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
A disruption of our IT Systems and capabilities could lead to business disruption and could harm our reputation and result in financial penalty and legal liabilities, which would reduce our revenue and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business operations are reliant on our IT Systems and any interruption may impair our ability to provide our services to our customers. In addition to potential disruptions to our IT Systems from cyber-attacks and cybersecurity incidents, we also face potential disruptions resulting from equipment failures, shutdowns, power outages, human errors and other events, including disruptions experienced by service providers and other third parties. We may also experience disruptions during the implementation, upgrade or subsequent operation of our IT Systems, including supporting the legacy systems of acquired companies. Moreover, as we transition to new systems, our ability to timely mitigate, manage and patch vulnerabilities related to legacy systems and related legacy third-party technologies could impact security as well as our day-to-day operations. As a result, upgrades to our IT Systems may be expensive undertakings, may not be successful and/or could be abandoned. Additionally, if such upgraded IT Systems fail to operate or are unable to support our growth, our business operations could be severely disrupted, and we could be required to make significant additional expenditures to remedy any such failure.
We could also encounter threats to our physical security, including our facilities and personnel, and threats from workplace violence, civil unrest, terrorism, or similar acts, any of which could disrupt our IT Systems and business. Our business, and the business of our suppliers, subcontractors, service providers and customers, could be disrupted by public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, and governmental, business and individual actions taken in response, damaging weather or other acts of nature, or other events outside our control. The impact of any such disruptions is difficult to predict, but could lead to operational delays and detrimental impacts on our operations, diversion of management’s attention and resources or loss of business.
Any of these developments could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to maintain, protect or enforce our rights in our proprietary technology, brands or other intellectual property, our competitive advantage, business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
Our success is dependent, in part, upon protecting our intellectual property rights, including those in our brands and our proprietary know-how and technology. We rely on a combination of trademark, patent, trade secret, copyright and other intellectual property laws as well as contractual arrangements to establish and protect our intellectual property rights. While it is our policy to protect and defend our rights to our intellectual property, we cannot predict whether the measures that we have taken will be adequate to prevent infringement, misappropriation, dilution or other violations of our intellectual property rights, or that we will be able to
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