Disputed Scientifi c-Atlanta Revenue
Scientific-Atlanta manufactures equipment used by cable TV networks, Internet
service suppliers, and various other companies involved in the broadcasting and
electronic communications industries. Gemstar Development Corporation, the predecessor of GTGI, had a three-year licensing agreement with Scientific-Atlanta.
This agreement allowed Scientific-Atlanta to use certain patented technologies
controlled by Gemstar. The agreement expired in 1999 and was not renewed. Following
the expiration of that agreement, Gemstar sued Scientifi c-Atlanta, alleging
that the company was infringing on patented technologies that were Gemstar’s exclusive
intellectual property.
During this ongoing litigation, Gemstar continued to record licensing revenue from
Scientifi c-Atlanta as if it still had a contractual relationship with that company. Following
the 2000 merger with TV Guide, GTGI’s accounting staff did the same. From
early 2000 through the fi rst quarter of fi scal 2002, GTGI recorded more than $100 million
of disputed licensing revenue from Scientifi c-Atlanta.
According to the SEC, there was no defensible basis for Gemstar and later GTGI to
record revenue from Scientifi c-Atlanta after the contract with that company expired
in 1999. The federal agency identifi ed the following four conditions that precluded
the recording of that revenue.
1) GTGI did not have a current contract with Scientific-Atlanta;
2) GTGI did not receive any payments of the disputed revenues;
3) Scientific-Atlanta was insisting that it did not owe the revenues to GTGI; and,
4) any subsequent receipt of the disputed revenues by GTGI was contingent on a
favorable outcome to the litigation between it and Scientific-Atlanta.
Because KPMG “knew or reasonably should have known” of each of these conditions,
the auditors should have refused to endorse their client’s decision to record that revenue.