Company: KHC
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001637459-25-000011
Chunk: 57

Company: Kraft Heinz Co
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 57
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, merchandise, apparel, and goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Xinjiang”) of the People's Republic of China, or by entities identified by the U.S. government on the UFLPA Entity List. As a result of the UFLPA, materials and products we import into the United States could be held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection based on a suspicion that inputs used in such materials or products originated from Xinjiang or that they may have been produced by Chinese suppliers alleged to participate in forced labor, pending our provision of satisfactory evidence to the contrary. Among other consequences, such an outcome could result in negative publicity that harms our brands and reputation and could result in a delay or our complete inability to import such materials or products, which could result in inventory shortages and greater supply chain compliance costs.

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products and brands.

We consider our intellectual property rights, particularly and most notably our trademarks, but also our patents, trade secrets, trade dress, copyrights, and licensing agreements, to be a significant and valuable aspect of our business. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and trade dress laws, as well as licensing agreements, third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements, policing of third-party misuses of our intellectual property, and securing our information technology systems. Our failure to develop or adequately protect our trademarks, products, new features of our products, or our technology, or any change in law or other changes that serve to lessen or remove the current legal protections of our intellectual property, may diminish our competitiveness and could materially and adversely affect our product sales, business, and financial condition. We also license certain intellectual property, most notably trademarks, from third parties. To the extent that we are not able to contract with these third parties on favorable terms or maintain our relationships with these third parties, our rights to use certain intellectual property could be impacted, which may adversely impact our results from operations.

We may be unaware of intellectual property rights of others that may cover some of our technology, brands, or products. Any litigation regarding patents or other intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and could divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations. Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement might also require us to enter into costly license agreements. We also may be subject to significant damages or injunctions against development