Company: HCWB
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: DRS
Source: 0000950123-25-003769
Chunk: 67

Company: HCW Biologics Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: DRS
Chunk 67
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 initiated or may initiate opposition, interference, re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, nullification, or derivation actions in court or before patent offices, or similar proceedings
challenging the validity, ownership, enforceability, or scope of such patents, which may result in the patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable or circumvented. Because patent applications in the United States and other
jurisdictions are confidential for a period of time after filing, and some remain so until issued, we cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patents or pending patent applications, or that 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

39

Confidential Treatment Requested by HCW Biologics Inc.

Pursuant to 17 C.F.R. Section 200.83

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