Company: HCWB
Filing Date: 2025-05-09
Form Type: S-1
Source: 0001193125-25-116745
Chunk: 73

Company: HCW Biologics Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-05-09
Form: S-1
Chunk 73
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 any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, our competitive position would be harmed.

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In addition, our competitors may independently develop substantially equivalent trade
secrets, proprietary information, or know-how and may even apply for patent protection in respect of the same. If successful in obtaining such patent protection, our competitors could limit our use of our trade secrets and/or confidential know-how.
Under certain circumstances and to make it more likely that we have freedom to operate, we may also decide to publish some know-how to make it difficult for others to obtain patent rights covering such know-how, at the risk of potentially exposing
our trade secrets to our competitors.

We may be in the future subject to third-party claims asserting that our employees, consultants, contractors, collaborators, or advisors have misappropriated or wrongfully used or disseminated their intellectual property, or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Many of our employees, including our senior management, were previously employed at universities or at other biopharmaceutical companies,
including our competitors or potential competitors. Some of these employees executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure, and non-competition agreements in connection with such previous employment. Similarly, we work with consultants, contractors,
collaborators, advisors, or other third parties who have worked with, and do currently work with, other companies, including our competitors or potential competitors, and have executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure, and non-competition
agreements in connection with such other companies. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, contractors, collaborators, advisors, or other third parties do not use or disclose the proprietary information or know-how of others in
their work for us, we are and may become subject to claims that we or these employees or individuals that we work with have used or disclosed confidential information or intellectual property of others, including trade secrets or other proprietary
information, or that we caused an individual to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement with a current or former employer or competitor.

Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims and, even if we are successful, could result in substantial costs and could be a
distraction to management, our employees, and our routine business. If we fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel or sustain damages.
Such intellectual property rights could be awarded to a third party, and we