Company: CNTB
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001835268-25-000014
Chunk: 171

Company: Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 171
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 our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. federal courts, the USPTO or similar authorities in foreign jurisdictions, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce or defend patents that we have licensed or that we might own or license in the future. Similarly, changes in patent law and regulations in other countries or jurisdictions, changes in the governmental bodies that enforce them, or changes in how the relevant governmental authority enforces patent laws or regulations, may weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our current and future patents.

Europe’s Unified Patent Court may in particular present uncertainties for our ability to protect and enforce our patent rights against competitors in Europe. In 2012, the European Patent Package (“EU Patent Package”) regulations were passed with the goal of providing a single pan-European Unitary Patent and a new European Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) for litigation involving European patents. Implementation of the EU Patent Package occurred in 2023. Under the UPC, all European patents, including those issued prior to ratification of the European Patent Package, will by default automatically fall under the jurisdiction of the UPC. The UPC will provide our competitors with a new forum to centrally revoke our European patents and allow for the possibility of a competitor to obtain pan-European injunctions. It will be several years before we will understand the scope of patent rights that will be recognized and the strength of patent remedies that will be provided by the UPC. Under the EU Patent Package, we will have the right to opt our patents out of the UPC over the first seven years of the court’s existence, but doing so may preclude us from realizing the benefits of the new unified court. 

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world, including in the PRC.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents for our current and future Product Candidates in all relevant jurisdictions throughout the world could be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the U.S. can be less extensive than those in the U.S. The requirements for patentability differ in some jurisdictions, particularly developing countries. For example, the PRC has a heightened requirement for patentability and, specifically, requires a detailed description of medical uses of a claimed drug. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries, including the PRC, do not protect