Company: QLYS
Filing Date: 2025-08-05
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001107843-25-000031
Chunk: 305

Company: QUALYS, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-08-05
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 2
Chunk 305
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 and trade secrets. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary technology and trade secrets, unauthorized parties may attempt to misappropriate, reverse engineer or otherwise obtain and use them. The contractual provisions that we enter into with employees, consultants, partners, vendors and customers may not prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary technology or intellectual property rights and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary technology or intellectual property rights. Moreover, policing unauthorized use of our technologies, solutions and intellectual property is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States and where mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be weak. We may be unable to determine the extent of any unauthorized use or infringement of our solutions, technologies or intellectual property rights.

The process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner, if at all. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions.

Furthermore, it is possible that our patent applications may not result in granted patents, that the scope of our issued patents will be limited or not provide the coverage originally sought, that our issued patents will not provide us with any competitive advantages, or that our patents and other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative processes or litigation. In addition, issuance of a patent does not guarantee that we have an absolute right to practice the patented invention. As a result, we may not be able to obtain adequate patent protection or to enforce our issued patents effectively.

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From time to time, legal action by us may be necessary to enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the intellectual property rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could negatively affect our business, operating results and financial condition. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, we may find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to others who need not incur the additional expense, time and effort required to create the innovative solutions that have enabled us to be successful to date.

Assertions by third parties of infringement or other violations by us of their intellectual property rights could result in significant costs and harm our business and operating results.

Patent and other intellectual property disputes are common in our industry