Company: HCWB
Filing Date: 2025-04-07
Form Type: S-1
Source: 0001193125-25-073723
Chunk: 63

Company: HCW Biologics Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-07
Form: S-1
Chunk 63
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 we were the first to file any patent applications related to such inventions. Our patent applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless and until a patent is issued from
such applications, and then only to the extent the issued claims cover the technology. Furthermore, even where we have a valid and enforceable patent, we may not be able to exclude others from practicing our invention where the other party can show
that it used the invention in commerce before our filing date or that the other party benefits from a compulsory license. Additionally, our competitors or other third parties may be able to evade our patent rights by developing new biologics,
biosimilars, or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner.

In addition,
given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our intellectual
property may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours. Moreover, some of our owned patent applications may in the future be co-owned
with third parties. If we are unable to obtain an exclusive license to any such third-party co-owners’ interest in such patents or patent applications, such
co-owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. In addition, we may need the cooperation of
any such co-owners of our owned patents in order to enforce such patents against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us or our licensors. Any of the foregoing could have a material
adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects.

39

The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number
of procedural, documentary, fee payment, and other provisions during the patent application process. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete
loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case. The standards applied by the USPTO, foreign patent offices, and patent courts or
other authorities in granting patents and ruling on claim scope and validity are not always applied uniformly or predictably. Patent positions of life sciences companies can be uncertain and involve complex factual, scientific, and