Company: KROS
Filing Date: 2025-05-06
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001664710-25-000046
Chunk: 392

Company: Keros Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-05-06
Form: 10-Q
Item: Item 4
Chunk 392
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 or our licensing partners, may not be able to detect infringement against our owned or in-licensed patents, as the case may be, which may be especially difficult for manufacturing processes or formulation patents. Even if we or our licensing partners detect infringement by a third party of our owned or in-licensed patents, we or our licensing partners, as the case may be, may choose not to pursue litigation against or settlement with the third party. If we, or our licensing partners, later sue such third party for patent infringement, the third party may have certain legal defenses available to it, which otherwise would not be available except for the delay between when the infringement was first detected and when the suit was brought. Such legal defenses may make it impossible for us or our licensing partners to enforce our owned or in-licensed patents, as the case may be, against such third party. 

If another party questions the patentability of any of our claims in our owned or in-licensed U.S. patents, the third-party can request that the USPTO review the patent claims such as in an inter partes review, ex parte re-exam or post-grant review proceedings. These proceedings are expensive and may result in a loss of scope of some claims or a loss of the entire patent. In addition to potential USPTO review proceedings, we may become a party to patent opposition proceedings in foreign patent offices, where either our owned or in-licensed foreign patents are challenged. 

In the future, we may be involved in similar proceedings challenging the patent rights of others, and the outcome of such proceedings is highly uncertain. An adverse determination in any such proceeding could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. The costs of these opposition or similar proceedings could be substantial, and may result in a loss of scope of some claims or a loss of the entire patent. An unfavorable result at the USPTO or other patent office may result in the loss of our right to exclude others from practicing one or more of our inventions in the relevant country or jurisdiction, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. 

Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product candidates for an adequate amount of time. 

Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent