Company: GLPG
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001558370-25-003806
Chunk: 46

Company: GALAPAGOS NV
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 46
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●   others may independently develop identical, similar or alternative products or compositions and uses thereof;
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●   our disclosures in patent applications may not be sufficient to meet the statutory requirements for patentability;
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●   any or all of our pending patent applications may not result in issued patents;
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●   we may not seek or obtain patent protection in countries that may eventually provide us a significant business opportunity;
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●   any patents issued to us may not provide a basis for commercially viable products, may not provide any competitive advantages, or may be successfully challenged by third parties;
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●   our compositions, methods and processes may not be patentable;
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●   others may design around our patent claims to produce competitive products which fall outside of the scope of our patents; or
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●   others may identify prior art or other bases which could invalidate our patents.
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Even if we have or obtain patents covering our product candidates or compositions, we may still be barred from making, using and selling our product candidates or technologies because of the patent rights of others. Others may have filed, and in the future may file, patent applications covering compositions or products that are similar or identical to ours. If a patent owned by a third party covers one of our product candidates or its use, this could materially affect our ability to develop the product candidate or sell the resulting product if approved. Because patent applications are not published until 18 months from their priority date, there may be currently pending applications unknown to us that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates or compositions may infringe. Additionally, because the scope of claims in pending patent applications can change, there may be pending applications whose claims do not currently cover any of our product candidates but may be altered such that one or more of our product candidates are covered when the resulting patent issues. These patent applications may have priority over patent applications filed by us.
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Moreover, even if we are able to obtain patent protection, such patent protection may be of insufficient scope to achieve our business objectives. For example (without any limitation), others may be able to develop a product that is similar to, or better than, ours in a way that is not covered by the claims of our patents.
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Obtaining and maintaining a patent portfolio entails significant expense and resources. Part of the expense includes filing fees, search and examination fees, grant fees, periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees,