Company: VCYT
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001384101-25-000014
Chunk: 101

Company: VERACYTE, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 101
---
 other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology and diagnostics, which may make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents in such countries. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions may result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.

European patent applications have the option, upon grant of a patent, of becoming a Unitary Patent, which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Unitary Patent Court, or UPC. Patents granted before the implementation of the UPC in June 2023 have the option of opting out of the jurisdiction of the UPC and remaining as national patents in the UPC countries. Our patents that remain under the jurisdiction of the UPC may be potentially vulnerable to a single UPC-based revocation challenge that, if successful, could invalidate the patent in all countries who ratified the Unitary Patent Court Agreement. As the UPC is a new court system, there is only limited precedent for the court, increasing the uncertainty.

Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States or other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property. We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third-party patents. We may not develop additional proprietary products, methods and technologies that are patentable.

In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we apply for trademark protection on our commercial products; however, we have not registered certain of our trademarks in all of our potential geographic markets. If we apply to register these trademarks, our applications may not be allowed for registration in a timely fashion or at all, and our registered trademarks may not be maintained or enforced. In addition, opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademark applications and registrations, and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings. If we do not secure registrations for our trademarks, we may encounter more difficulty in enforcing them against third parties than we otherwise would. If some other business in one of these markets already owns a trademark that is confusingly similar to one of our trademarks, we may be prohibited from entering that market under our trademark unless we re-brand our product in that location. Similarly, if we develop a new product line, there is no guarantee that one of our existing trademarks will be available as the brand for that new product line.  Under those circumstances, we may incur the cost of developing a new trademark for this new product line.

We also take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into agreements, including confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and intellectual