Company: WHWK
Filing Date: 2025-01-21
Form Type: PREM14A
Source: 0001193125-25-009599
Chunk: 439

Company: Whitehawk Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-01-21
Form: PREM14A
Chunk 439
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 In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value
of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by the United States Congress, the United States federal courts, the USPTO, or similar authorities in foreign jurisdictions, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable
ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and the patents we might obtain or license in the future.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property.

We may also be subject to claims that our former employees or our licensors or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents or other
intellectual property. Confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements may not be honored and may not effectively assign intellectual property rights to us. The assignment of intellectual property rights under these agreements may
not be automatic upon the creation of the intellectual property or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against it, to determine the ownership of
what we regard as our intellectual property. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose
valuable intellectual property rights. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and distraction to management and
other employees.

Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product or product candidates that we may develop in the future 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 is generally 20 years from its earliest United States non-provisional effective filing date. Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords,
is limited. Even if patents covering our product or product candidates that we may develop in the future are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products. 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 patent portfolio may not provide us with
sufficient rights to