RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTOur research and development expenses were approximately $3.4 million, $5.7 million, and $4.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2001, 2000, and 1999, respectively. At December 31, 2001, approximately 12% of our employees were engaged in research and development activities, which include both product development and outcomes research. Our research and development efforts are presently focused on the development of improvements to our existing products to enhance the user experience and on additional language and reading programs based on the application of our neuroscience expertise. In 2002, we plan to release new versions of Fast ForWord Language, Language to Reading and Middle and High School. Among other features, these new versions will no longer require customers to regularly connect with our database. We now plan to launch Fast ForWord Advanced Reading, which was originally scheduled for launch in 2001, in late 2002 or 2003. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTYWe have a broad intellectual property strategy addressing both product technology and product concepts. We aggressively protect our proprietary rights in our products and technology through a combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions. At December 31, 2001, we held 34 issued U.S. patents and 22 pending U.S. applications. We also have 28 pending international patent applications. We were the exclusive licensee under 4 issued U.S. patents, 7 pending U.S. applications and 7 pending international patent applications. The licensed patents and applications are licensed from the Regents of the University of California and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and relate to the basic speech and sound modification and adaptivity technology developed at those institutions. Fast ForWord Language, Fast ForWord Language to Reading, Fast ForWord Middle and High School, and Fast ForWord Bookshelf incorporate this licensed technology; Fast ForWord Reading, Reading Edge, Fast ForWord Basics and the Away We Go! products do not. To date, approximately 75% of our revenues have been derived from selling products that use the licensed inventions, and loss of this license agreement would cause material harm to our business. Under the terms of this license, we must pay royalties and milestone payments based upon cumulative net sales of our products, subject to certain minimum royalty amounts. In connection with the license, we issued 114,526 shares of Series A preferred stock, which were converted into 114,526 shares of our common stock upon completion of our July 1999 initial public offering, to Rutgers and made other up-front payments. In 2000 and 2001, we had approximately $870,000 and $635,000, respectively in royalty and milestone expense under the license. In 2002 and each year thereafter during the term of the license, the minimum royalty expense necessary to maintain the license will be $150,000. We expect royalties as a percentage of revenues to decline over time as the royalty rate under the license steps down and we introduce additional programs that are not subject to license fees. However, we cannot predict our future product mix. Unless otherwise terminated by operation of law or certain acts of the parties, the license remains in effect until the later of the expiration of the last-to-expire patent licensed or the abandonment of the last patent application licensed. The Regents may terminate the license agreement if we fail to perform or violate its terms without curing the violation within 60 days of receiving written notice of the violation. COMPETITIONThe educational market in which we operate is very competitive. We believe that the principal competitive factors in the industry are efficacy, ability to deliver measurable results, cost, efficiency of delivery, ability to provide training to educators, parents and speech and language and other professionals and ability to complement and supplement public school curriculum. We believe that we compete favorably on the basis of these factors. Particularly in the public school market, we compete against other companies offering educational software and other language and reading programs, as well as with providers of traditional methods of teaching language and reading. Some of the other companies that provide software and other programs are more established in the school market than we are, offer a broader range of products to schools and have greater technical, marketing and distribution resources than we do. In addition, although the traditional approaches to language and reading are fundamentally different from the approach we take, the traditional methods are more widely known and accepted and, therefore, represent significant competition. 8 |