Company: VLDXW
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-047760
Chunk: 161

Company: Velo3D, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 161
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 our business. If it 

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becomes necessary for us to litigate to protect these IP rights, any proceedings could be burdensome and costly, could result in counterclaims challenging our IP (including validity or enforceability) or accusing us of infringement, and we may not prevail.

Our patent applications and issued patents may be practiced by third parties without our knowledge. Our competitors may also attempt to design around our patents or copy or otherwise obtain and use our proprietary information and other IP. Moreover, our competitors may already hold or have applied for patents in the U.S. or abroad that, if enforced, could possibly prevail over our patent rights or otherwise limit our ability to manufacture, sell or otherwise commercialize one or more of our products in the U.S. or abroad. With respect to our pending patent applications, we may not be successful in securing issued patents, or the claims of such patents may be narrowed, any of which may limit our ability to protect inventions that these applications were intended to cover, which could harm our ability to prevent others from exploiting our technologies and commercializing products similar to our products. In addition, the expiration of a patent can result in increased competition with consequent erosion of profit margins.

Our confidentiality agreements could be breached or may not provide meaningful protection for at least a portion of our trade secrets or proprietary manufacturing expertise. Adequate remedies may not be available in the event of an unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and manufacturing expertise. Violations by others of our confidentiality agreements and the loss of employees who have specialized knowledge and expertise could harm our competitive position resulting from the exclusive nature of such knowledge and expertise and cause our sales and operating results to decline as a result of increased competition. In addition, others may obtain knowledge of our trade secrets through independent development or other access by legal means.

The applicable governmental authorities may not approve our pending service mark and trademark applications. A failure to obtain trademark registrations in the U.S. and in other countries could limit our ability to obtain and retain our trademarks in those jurisdictions. Moreover, third parties may seek to oppose our applications or otherwise challenge the resulting registrations. In the event that our trademarks are not approved or are successfully challenged by third parties, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition and could require us to devote significant resources to rebranding and advertising and marketing new brands. We could be sued by third parties who, unbeknown to us and to government agencies allowing for registration of our trademark, previously used our registered trademark in