Company: OCEA
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-003155
Chunk: 2620

Company: Ocean Biomedical, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 2620
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 take title to these
inventions if we, or the applicable licensor, fail to disclose the invention to the government and fail to file an application to register
the intellectual property within specified time limits. These time limits have recently been changed by regulation and may change in
the future. Intellectual property generated under a government funded program is also subject to certain reporting requirements, compliance
with which may require us or the applicable licensor to expend substantial resources. In addition, the U.S. government requires that
any products embodying the subject invention or produced through the use of the subject invention be manufactured substantially in the
United States. The manufacturing preference requirement can be waived if the owner of the intellectual property can show that reasonable
but unsuccessful efforts have been made to grant licenses on similar terms to potential licensees that would be likely to manufacture
substantially in the United States or that under the circumstances domestic manufacture is not commercially feasible. This preference
for U.S. manufacturers may limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. product manufacturers for products covered by such intellectual
property. To the extent any of our future intellectual property is generated through the use of U.S. government funding, the provisions
of the Bayh-Dole Act may similarly apply.

If
we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

97

In
addition to patent protection, we rely heavily upon know-how and trade secret protection, such as that involved in our WPDS platform,
and we intend to enter into non-disclosure agreements and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and third-parties,
to protect our confidential and proprietary information, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable.
In addition to contractual measures, we expect to try to protect the confidential nature of our proprietary information using physical
and technological security measures. Such measures may not, for example, in the case of misappropriation of a trade secret by an employee
or third-party with authorized access, provide adequate protection for our proprietary information. Our security measures may not prevent
an employee or consultant from misappropriating our trade secrets and providing them to a competitor, and recourse we take against such
misconduct may not provide an adequate remedy to protect our interests fully. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated
a trade secret can be difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, trade secrets may be independently
developed by others in a