Company: TXG
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001770787-25-000013
Chunk: 88

Company: 10x Genomics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 88
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 similar strategies to license or acquire such third party’s intellectual property rights. Some of these companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater development, manufacturing and commercialization capabilities. We also may be unable to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights on commercially reasonable terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment, or we may be unable to obtain any such license or acquisition at all. If we are unable to successfully license or acquire necessary third-party intellectual property rights, we may not be able to develop, manufacture or commercialize our current and/or future products or technologies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

42

If we fail to execute invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors involved in the development of intellectual property rights or are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, the value of our products and technologies and our business and competitive position could be harmed.

In addition to patent protection, we also rely on other intellectual property rights, including protection of copyright, trade secrets, know-how and/or other proprietary information that is not patentable or that we elect not to patent.

However, trade secrets can be difficult to protect, and some courts are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. To maintain the confidentiality of our trade secrets and proprietary information, we rely heavily on confidentiality provisions that we have in contracts with our employees, consultants, collaborators and other third parties. We generally enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties upon their commencement of a relationship with us. However, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our trade secrets or proprietary technology and processes and we may not enter into such agreements with all employees, consultants and third parties who have been involved in the development of our intellectual property rights. Although we generally require all of our employees, consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information, or technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, we cannot provide any assurances that all such agreements have been duly executed. In addition, despite the protections we do place on our intellectual property or other proprietary rights, monitoring unauthorized use and disclosure of our intellectual property rights by employees, consultants and other third parties who have access to such intellectual property or other proprietary rights is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property or other proprietary rights will be adequate. Therefore, we may not be able