Company: MDXG
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001376339-25-000009
Chunk: 99

Company: MIMEDX GROUP, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 99
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 legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. In addition, our pending patent applications include claims to material aspects of our products and procedures that may not be protected by issued patents. The patent application process can be time consuming and expensive. Our pending patent applications might not result in issued patents, and issued patents may later be determined to be invalid or unenforceable as a result of district court litigation or related administrative proceedings. Competitors may be able to design around our patents or develop products that provide outcomes that are comparable or even superior to ours. Although we have taken steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology, including entering into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with some of our officers, employees, consultants and advisors, such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements.

The failure to obtain and maintain patents or protect our intellectual property rights could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Whether a patent claim is valid is a complex matter of science, facts and law, and therefore we cannot be certain that, if challenged in a court of law, or through an administrative proceeding, our patent claims would be upheld. If any of those patent claims are invalidated or determined to be unenforceable, our competitive advantage may be reduced or eliminated.

In the event a competitor infringes upon our licensed patents, issued patents, pending patent applications or other intellectual property rights, enforcing those rights may be costly, uncertain, difficult and time consuming. Even if successful, litigation to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights could be expensive and time consuming and could divert our management’s attention. Further, bringing litigation to enforce our patents subjects us to the potential for counterclaims. Other companies or entities also have commenced, and may again commence, actions seeking to establish the invalidity of our patents and certain related claims. In the event that any of our patent claims are challenged, a court, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), or the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the USPTO may invalidate one or more challenged patent claims or determine that the patent is unenforceable, which could harm our competitive position. If the USPTO or the PTAB ultimately cancels or narrows the claim scope of any of our patents through these proceedings, it could prevent or hinder us from