Company: IHETW
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001400891-25-000009
Chunk: 17

Company: iHeartMedia, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 17
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 national reach, the strength of our brand and assets, the quality of our programming and personalities, and the companionship nature of our content allows us to compete effectively against other radio businesses, as well as with other media, entertainment and digital platforms, such as streaming audio services, satellite radio, podcasts, other 

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Internet-based streaming music services, ad tech, television, live entertainment, large scale online advertising platforms, and social media.

Similarly, we compete for advertising and marketing dollars in the U.S. advertising market against an increasingly diverse set of competitors. Our competition for the radio, podcast and digital advertising market includes legacy broadcast radio operators, as well as satellite radio companies, podcasters and streaming music companies with ad supported components of their business. We compete in the larger U.S. advertising market-inclusive of the radio, podcast and digital opportunity-by developing and offering competitive advertising products intended to attract advertising and marketing dollars that might otherwise go to companies in the television, digital, search, Internet, audio, social media, print, sponsorship and other advertising spaces.

Intellectual Property

Our success is dependent on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our technology and the know‑how related to our business, defend and enforce our intellectual property rights and operate our business without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others. We seek to protect our investments made into the development of our technology by relying on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, know‑how, confidentiality agreements and procedures, non‑disclosure agreements with third parties, employee disclosure and invention assignment agreements and other contractual rights.

As of December 31, 2024, we own 295 issued U.S. patents, 43 pending U.S. patent applications, 5 issued foreign patents and 1 pending foreign patent applications, in addition to 332 U.S. trademarks registrations, 21 U.S. trademark applications, 277 state trademark registrations, 500 foreign registered trademarks and 34 foreign trademark applications. The duration of our intellectual property rights vary from country to country, but our U.S. patents expire 20 years from the earliest priority patent filing date.

We have filed and acquired dozens of issued patents and active patent applications in the U.S. and we continue to pursue additional patent protection where appropriate and cost effective. We intend to hold these patents as part of our strategy to protect and defend our technology, including to protect and defend the Company in patent‑related litigation. Our registered trademarks in the U.S