and expenses to remediate or otherwise respond to the incident. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with any privacy- or security-related laws, regulations or contractual or other obligations to which we are or may be subject may result in regulatory actions, claims or litigation; legal and other costs; substantial time and resources; and fines, penalties or other liabilities. Any actions or concerns about security and privacy may be expensive to defend, cause us to expend substantial time and resources and damage our reputation and operating results and/or negatively impact overall RAIN industry development, even if unfounded.
We cannot be sure that any limitation-of-liability provisions in our agreements with customers, contracts with third-party vendors and service providers or other contracts will protect us from liabilities or damages against claims relating to a security breach or other privacy- or security-related issue.
Government regulations and guidelines and other standards relating to consumer privacy and cybersecurity may adversely impact adoption of our products, require us to make design changes or constrain our ability to implement new and desired product features, and actual or alleged violations of laws relating to privacy or cyber security may result in claims, proceedings and liability.
Our partners and end users are subject to laws and regulations related to collecting, storing, transmitting and using personal information and personal data, as well as to additional laws and regulations that address privacy and cybersecurity related to RFID in general. Because RAIN is a type of RFID, we believe these laws and regulations apply to RAIN.
The European Commission, or the EC, has issued guidance to address privacy concerns about RFID. In May 2009, the EC issued a recommendation that retailers in the EU inform their customers when RFID tags are either on or embedded within products. In April 2011, the EC signed a voluntary agreement with private and public entities to develop privacy guidelines for companies using RFID in the EU. Whereas compliance is voluntary, our partners and end users that do business in the EU prefer products that comply with the guidelines. If our products do not comply or enable compliance with the guidelines, then our business may suffer.
More generally, the data security and privacy legislative and regulatory landscape in the United States, EU and other jurisdictions continues evolving. Aspects of key privacy laws and regulations—including the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, the California Privacy Rights Act, similar privacy laws enacted in other states and the EU General Data Protection Regulation—remain unclear as of the date of this report and continue evolving, potentially with far-reaching implications. Laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and security; related industry standards and guidelines; and continued evolution of these laws, regulations, standards, guidelines and other actual and asserted obligations, as well as their interpretation and enforcement, may require us to modify our products, practices and policies, which we may not be able to do on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and otherwise could cause us to incur substantial costs and expenses. Any failure or perceived failure by us or any third parties with which we do business to comply with these laws and regulations or other actual or asserted obligations relating to privacy, data protection or security may result in claims or litigation; actions against us by governmental entities; legal and other costs; substantial time and resources and fines, penalties or other liabilities. Any such actions may be expensive to defend, may incur substantial legal and other costs and substantial time and resources and likely would damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Additionally, if we fail to develop products that meet end-user privacy requirements, then end users may choose not to use our products.
The RAIN radio protocol includes features addressing consumer privacy and authentication, and we have incorporated additional features in our products that further protect consumer privacy. Nevertheless, a third party could still breach these features and, if such breach occurs, our reputation could be damaged and our business and prospects could suffer.
A breach of security or other security incident impacting our systems or others used in our business could have an adverse effect on our business.
We face risks of security breaches and incidents from a variety of sources including viruses, ransomware, hacking, malicious code, supply-chain attacks as well as social engineering or other employee or contractor negligence, malfeasance or unintentional acts. Accidental or willful security breaches or incidents, or unauthorized access to our facilities or information systems, or to others used in our business, could compromise the security of those facilities or information systems and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of confidential, personal or proprietary information. These risks may be heightened in connection with geopolitical tensions and events.
The consequences of loss, unavailability, misuse, corruption or other unauthorized processing of confidential, personal or proprietary information could include, among other things, unfavorable publicity, reputational damage, difficulty marketing or selling our products, customer allegations of breach of contract, loss or theft of intellectual property, claims and litigation, governmental and regulatory investigations and other proceedings and fines, penalties and other damages and liabilities. Any of these consequences could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, reputation and business relationships.