Company: TEM
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-025603
Chunk: 142

Company: Tempus AI, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 142
---
, 2013, but before us could therefore be awarded a patent covering an invention of ours even if we had made the invention before it was made by such third party. This will require us to be cognizant of the time from invention to filing of a patent application. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing or until issuance, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to either (i) file any patent application related to our products or (ii) invent any of the inventions claimed in our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications. 

The America Invents Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and also affect patent litigation. These include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to challenge the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings, to attack the validity of a patent. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence might not be sufficient to invalidate the claim if presented in a district court action. Accordingly, third parties have used and may continue to use the USPTO proceedings to invalidate our patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party in a district court action. Therefore, the America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding our or our licensors’ prosecution of patent applications and enforcement or defense of issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. 

The patent positions of companies engaged in the development and commercialization of biotechnology and software are particularly uncertain. Court rulings may narrow the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weaken the rights of patent owners in certain situations. We cannot predict how decisions by the courts, the U.S. Congress or the USPTO may impact the value of our patents. Any similar adverse changes in the patent laws of other jurisdictions could also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could