Company: HCWB
Filing Date: 2025-04-07
Form Type: S-1
Source: 0001193125-25-073723
Chunk: 70

Company: HCW Biologics Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-07
Form: S-1
Chunk 70
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development, manufacture, and distribution of our product candidates and provision of our services, we must, at times, share trade secrets with them. Despite employing the contractual and other security precautions described above, the need to share
trade secrets increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others, or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. If any of our trade secrets were to be
lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or
independently developed by a competitor or other third party, our competitive position would be harmed.

In addition, our competitors may
independently develop substantially equivalent trade secrets, proprietary information, or know-how and may even apply for patent protection in respect of the same. If successful in obtaining such patent
protection, our competitors could limit our use of our trade secrets and/or confidential know-how. Under certain circumstances and to make it more likely that we have freedom to operate, we may

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also decide to publish some know-how to make it difficult for others to obtain patent rights covering such
know-how, at the risk of potentially exposing our trade secrets to our competitors.

We may be in the future subject to third-party claims asserting that our employees, consultants, contractors, collaborators, or advisors have misappropriated or wrongfully used or disseminated their intellectual property, or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Many of our employees, including our senior management, were previously employed at universities or at
other biopharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Some of these employees executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure, and
non-competition agreements in connection with such previous employment. Similarly, we work with consultants, contractors, collaborators, advisors, or other third parties who have worked with, and do currently
work with, other companies, including our competitors or potential competitors, and have executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure, and non-competition agreements in
connection with such other companies. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, contractors, collaborators, advisors, or other third parties do not use or disclose the proprietary information or
know-how of others in their work for us, we are and may become subject to claims that we or these employees or individuals that we work with have used or disclosed confidential information or intellectual