COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Product Warranties We generally warrant our products against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year and that product warranty is generally limited to a refund of the original purchase price of the product or a replacement part. We estimate our warranty costs based on historical warranty claim experience. Warranty returns are recorded as an allowance for sales returns. The allowance for sales returns is reviewed quarterly to verify that it properly reflects the remaining obligations based on the anticipated returns over the balance of the obligation period. The following table presents our warranty reserve activities: Year Ended December 28, 2014 December 29, 2013 December 30, 2012 (In thousands) Beginning balance $ 2,628 $ 3,360 $ 3,085 Provisions 1,449 390 1,179 Settlements made (1,707 ) (1,122 ) (904 ) Ending balance $ 2,370 $ 2,628 $ 3,360 Patent License Agreement On April 30, 2012, we entered into a strategic Patent License Agreement ( PLA ) with IV Global Licensing LLC ( IV ) under which we and our majority-owned subsidiaries received a license to IV s substantial patent portfolio. This transaction allowed us and IV to continue to develop our strategic relationship regarding patent monetization and litigation defense. Under the terms of the PLA, we paid a license fee of approximately $14 million and to purchase certain litigation defense services from IV in the future. In addition, in a related agreement, IV is expected to make certain patent purchases from us in the near term. The exact terms and conditions of the PLA are subject to confidentiality provisions, and are the subject of an application for confidential treatment to be filed with the SEC. One of the benefits that we received from the PLA was the avoidance of future litigation expenses as well as future customer disruption and based upon our analysis, using a relief from royalty method, we determined that a portion of the license fee that we will pay IV represents the cumulative cost relating to