Company: GLPG
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001558370-25-003806
Chunk: 48

Company: GALAPAGOS NV
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 48
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 predicted with certainty. Patents, if issued, may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. Certain U.S. patents and patent applications may also be subject to interference proceedings, and U.S. patents may be subject to reexamination proceedings, post- grant review and/or inter partes review in the USPTO. European patents and other foreign patents may be subject also to opposition or comparable proceedings in the corresponding foreign patent office, which could result in either loss of the patent or denial of the patent application or loss or reduction in the scope of one or more of the claims of the patent or patent application. In addition, such interference, reexamination, post-grant review, inter partes review and opposition proceedings may be costly. Accordingly, rights under any issued patents may not provide us with sufficient protection against competitive products or processes.
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In addition, changes in or different interpretations of patent laws in the United States, Europe, and other jurisdictions may permit others to use our discoveries or to develop and commercialize our technology and products without providing any compensation to us, or may limit the number of patents or claims we can obtain. The laws of some countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as U.S. and European laws and those countries may lack adequate rules and procedures for defending our intellectual property rights.
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If we fail to obtain and maintain patent protection and trade secret protection of our product candidates, we could lose our competitive advantage and competition we face would increase, reducing any potential revenues and adversely affecting our ability to attain or maintain profitability.
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Developments in patent law could have a negative impact on our business.
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From time to time, courts and other governmental authorities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other jurisdictions may change the standards of patentability and any such changes could have a negative impact on our business.
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If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
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In addition to patent protection, because we operate in the highly technical field of development of therapies, we rely in part on trade secret protection in order to protect our proprietary technology and processes. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. It is our policy to enter into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers, and other advisors. These agreements generally require that the other party keeps confidential and does not disclose to third parties all confidential information developed by the party or made known to the party by us during the course of the