In addition to the results presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP") included in this news release, Motorola Solutions also has included non-GAAP measurements of results, including free cash flow, non-GAAP operating earnings, non-GAAP EPS, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP tax rate, organic revenue and net sales adjusted for the U.K. Home Office. The company has provided these non-GAAP measurements to help investors better understand its core operating performance, enhance comparisons of core operating performance from period-to-period and allow better comparisons of its operating performance to that of its competitors. Among other things, management uses these operating results, excluding the identified items, to evaluate the performance of its businesses and to evaluate results relative to certain incentive compensation targets. Management uses operating results excluding these items because it believes these measurements enable it to make better period-to-period evaluations of the financial performance of its core business operations. The non-GAAP measurements are intended only as a supplement to the comparable GAAP measurements and the company compensates for the limitations inherent in the use of non-GAAP measurements by using GAAP measures in conjunction with the non-GAAP measurements. As a result, investors should consider these non-GAAP measurements in addition to, and not in substitution for or as superior to, GAAP measurements.
Reconciliations: Details and reconciliations of such non-GAAP measurements to the corresponding GAAP measurements can be found at the end of this news release.
Free cash flow: Free cash flow represents net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. The company believes that free cash flow is useful to investors as the basis for comparing its performance and coverage ratios with other companies in the company's industries, although the company's measure of free cash flow may not be directly comparable to similar measures used by other companies. This measure is also used as a component of incentive compensation.
Organic revenue: Organic revenue reflects net sales calculated under GAAP excluding net sales from acquired business owned for less than four full quarters. The company believes organic revenue provides useful information for evaluating the periodic growth of the business on a consistent basis and provides for a meaningful period-to-period comparison and analysis of trends in the business.
Net sales adjusted for the U.K. Home Office or Net sales excluding U.K. Home Office sales: Net sales adjusted for the U.K. Home Office reflects net sales calculated under GAAP excluding net sales related to the U.K. Home Office. The company believes that net sales excluding the U.K. Home Office improves period-to-period comparability related to the Airwave Charge Control implemented as of August 1, 2023 and the company's exit from the ESN contract as of December 31, 2023.
Non-GAAP operating earnings, non-GAAP EPS and non-GAAP operating margin each excludes highlighted items, including share-based compensation expenses and intangible assets amortization expense, as follows:
Highlighted items: The company has excluded the effects of highlighted items including, but not limited to, acquisition-related transaction fees, tangible and intangible asset impairments, reorganization of business charges, certain non-cash pension adjustments, legal settlements and other contingencies, gains and losses on investments and businesses, Hytera-related legal expenses, gains and losses on the extinguishment of debt and the income tax effects of significant tax matters, from its non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measurements because the company believes that these historical items do not reflect expected future operating earnings or expenses and do not contribute to a meaningful evaluation of the company's current operating performance or comparisons to the company's past operating performance. For the purposes of management's internal analysis over operating performance, the company uses financial statements that exclude highlighted items, as these charges do not contribute to a meaningful evaluation of the company's current operating performance or comparisons to the company's past operating performance.
Hytera-Related Legal Expenses: On March 14, 2017, the company filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “District Court”) against Hytera Communications Corporation Limited of Shenzhen, China; Hytera America, Inc.; and Hytera Communications America (West), Inc. (collectively, “Hytera”), alleging trade secret theft and copyright infringement and seeking, among other things, injunctive relief, compensatory damages and punitive damages. On February 14, 2020, the company announced that a jury decided in the company's favor in its trade secret theft and copyright infringement case. In connection with this verdict, the jury awarded the company $345.8 million in compensatory damages and $418.8 million in punitive damages, for a total of $764.6 million. In a series of post-trial rulings in 2021, the District Court subsequently reduced the judgment to $543.7 million, but also ordered Hytera to pay the company $51.1 million in pre-judgment interest and $2.6 million in costs, as well as $34.2 million in attorneys fees. The company continues to seek collection of the judgment through the ongoing legal process.
On December 17, 2020, the District Court held that Hytera must pay the company a forward-looking reasonable royalty on products that use the company’s stolen trade secrets, and on December 15, 2021, set royalty rates for Hytera's sale of relevant products from July 1, 2019 forward. On July 5, 2022, the District Court ordered that Hytera pay into a third-party escrow on July 31, 2022, the royalties owed to the company based on the sale of relevant products from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022. Hytera failed to make the required royalty payment on July 31, 2022. On August 1, 2022, Hytera filed a motion to modify or stay the District Court’s previous July 5, 2022 royalty order, which the District Court denied on July 11, 2023. On August 3, 2022, the company filed a motion seeking to hold Hytera in civil contempt for violating the royalty order by not making the required royalty payment on July 31, 2022. On August 26, 2023, the District Court granted the company's contempt motion. As a result, on September 1, 2023, Hytera made a payment of $56 million into the third-party escrow. In addition to the September 1, 2023 payment of $56 million, Hytera has made de minimis regular quarterly royalty payments into the third-party escrow from October 2022 through October 2024. The aggregate amount paid into escrow will not be recognized until all contingencies are resolved and such amount is released from escrow.
Following the February 14, 2020 verdict and judgment in the company's favor, Hytera appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (the "Court of Appeals"), seeking review of the orders related to the jury's verdict as well as the District Court's royalty order. The company filed its cross-appeal on August 5, 2022. The Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on December 5, 2023, and issued its decision on July 2, 2024. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's award of $407.4 million in damages, including exemplary damages, under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. The Court of Appeals also directed the District Court to recalculate and reduce its award of $136.3 million in copyright infringement damages, and instructed the District Court to reconsider its denial of the company's request for an injunction. In all other respects, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the District Court. On October 4, 2024, the Court of Appeals denied Hytera’s motion for rehearing. The case has been remanded to the District Court for further action per the Court of Appeals' decision.
In 2024, the parties engaged in competing litigation in the District Court and a court in Shenzhen, China (originally filed by Hytera in June 2022 and not served upon the company until November 2023) related to the possible continued use by Hytera of the company’s trade secrets in Hytera’s currently shipping products. On April 2, 2024, the District Court held Hytera in civil contempt, and issued a worldwide sales injunction of certain Hytera products and a daily fine, for Hytera's failure to withdraw its competing litigation in China. On April 16, 2024, the Court of Appeals granted Hytera's motion for an emergency stay of the contempt sanctions, to allow the Court of Appeals to review the District Court's various orders related to the competing litigation and contempt sanctions. The District Court held hearings on August 26-30, 2024, concerning whether Hytera's currently shipping products continue to misuse the company's trade secrets and copyrighted source code. The issue is now under consideration by the District Court.
Management typically considers legal expenses associated with defending the company's intellectual property as “normal and recurring” and accordingly, Hytera-related legal expenses were included in both the company's GAAP and non-GAAP operating income for fiscal years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The company anticipates further expenses associated with Hytera-related litigation; however, as of 2020, the company believes that these expenses are no longer a part of the “normal and recurring” legal expenses incurred to operate its business. In addition, as any contingent or actual gains associated with the Hytera litigation are recognized, they will be similarly excluded from the company's non-GAAP operating income, consistent with the company's treatment of the $15 million of proceeds realized in 2022. The company believes after the jury award, the presentation of excluding both Hytera-related legal expenses and gains related to awards better aligns with how management evaluates the company's ongoing underlying business performance.
