Company: PACB
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001299130-25-000061
Chunk: 424

Company: PACIFIC BIOSCIENCES OF CALIFORNIA, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 424
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 unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual provisions, to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Despite these measures, any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, or misappropriated. In addition, we attempt to protect our intellectual property and proprietary information by requiring our employees and consultants to enter into confidentiality and assignment of inventions agreements, and by entering into confidentiality agreements with our third-party development, manufacturing, sales, and distribution partners, who may also acquire, develop and/or commercialize alternative or competing products or provide services to our competitors. For example, Roche had certain access to our trade secrets and other proprietary information pursuant to an agreement we had entered into with Roche, subject to the confidentiality provisions thereof (certain of which provisions survive the termination of the agreement); however, Roche is developing potentially competing sequencing products. There can be no assurance that our measures have provided or will provide adequate protection for our intellectual property and proprietary information. These agreements may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets and other proprietary information may be disclosed to others, or others may gain access to or disclose our trade secrets and other proprietary information. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Additionally, others may independently develop proprietary information and techniques that are substantially equivalent to ours. The occurrence of these events may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Our intellectual property may be subject to challenges in the United States or foreign jurisdictions that could adversely affect our intellectual property position.

Our pending, issued and granted U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications have been, are and may in the future be, subject to challenges by ONT Ltd., Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Inc. ("ONT Inc.") and Metrichor, Ltd. (“Metrichor” and, together with ONT Ltd. and ONT Inc., “ONT”) in addition to other parties asserting prior invention by others or invalidity on various grounds, through proceedings, such as interferences, reexaminations, or opposition proceedings. Addressing these challenges to our intellectual property has been, and any future challenges can be, costly and distract management’s attention and resources. For example, we previously incurred significant legal expenses to litigate and settle a complaint seeking review of a patent interference decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Additionally,