Our business could be negatively impacted by cyber and other security threats or disruptions.
Although we utilize internal and external independent controls to monitor and mitigate the risk of these threats, including a Security Incident Response Plan and periodic Information Technology training for all employees, there can be no assurance that these procedures and controls will be sufficient. We face various cyber and other security threats, including attempts to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and networks; employee threats; virtual and cyber threats to the safety of our directors, officers, and employees; threats to the security of our facilities and infrastructure; and threats from terrorist acts or other acts of aggression. Our customers and vendors face similar threats. Our security measures may also be breached due to employee error, malfeasance, system errors or vulnerabilities, or otherwise. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees, users, or customers to disclose sensitive information to gain access to our data or our user’s or customer’s data. These threats could lead to losses of sensitive information or capabilities, harm to personnel, infrastructure, or products, and/or damage to our reputation as well as our vendor’s ability to perform on our contracts.
Cyber threats are evolving and include, but are not limited to, artificial intelligence, ransomware, malicious software, destructive malware, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, disruption or denial of service attacks, and other electronic security breaches. Any of these could lead to disruptions in critical systems, unauthorized release of confidential, personal, or otherwise protected information (ours or that of our employees, customers, or vendors), and corruption of data, networks, or systems.
The impact of these factors is difficult to predict, but one or more of them could result in the loss of information or capabilities, harm to individuals or property, damage to our reputation, loss of business, regulatory actions, and potential liability, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our patents and proprietary rights may not be enforceable.
We rely on a combination of patent and trademark law, license agreements, internal procedures, and nondisclosure agreements to protect our intellectual property. These may be invalidated, circumvented, or challenged. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries in which our products may be produced or sold may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Our failure to protect our patent and proprietary information could adversely affect us.
Rights we have to trademarks, patents and pending patent applications may be challenged.
We have a portfolio of intellectual property that includes common law and state rights, as well of federally and internationally recognized trademark and patent rights. In addition, we take active precautions to protect our trade secret rights through various contractual means. However, we recognize that third parties may challenge these rights, including through unauthorized use or misappropriation or theft, or by legal challenge in administrative proceedings or challenge in state or district court. Such challenges include the risks of long and costly litigation, as well as the potential loss of property rights and the assessment of damages against a losing party.
Risks relating to Intellectual Property.
Because U.S. patent applications are maintained in secret until patents are issued, and publications of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature tend to lag actual discoveries by several months, we may not be the first creator of inventions covered by issued patents or pending patent applications or the first to file patent applications for such inventions. Moreover, other parties may independently develop similar technologies, duplicate our technologies or, if patents are issued to us or rights licensed by us, design around the patented aspects of any technologies we developed or licensed. We may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine the priority of inventions, which could result in substantial costs. Litigation may also be necessary to enforce any patents held by or issued to us or to determine the scope and validity of others’ proprietary rights, which could result in substantial costs.
We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.
To protect our proprietary and licensed technology and processes, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our corporate partners, employees, consultants, manufacturers, outside scientific collaborators and sponsored researchers and other advisors. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in