Company: DARE
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001401914-25-000012
Chunk: 253

Company: Dare Bioscience, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 253
---
In addition to patent and trademark protection, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to derive a competitive advantage for products we develop, especially where we believe patent protection is not appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to maintain. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures of our intellectual property is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be effective. Moreover, we or any of our collaborators’ employees, consultants, contractors or scientific and other advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our proprietary information to competitors and we may not have adequate remedies in respect of that disclosure. Enforcement of claims that a party illegally disclosed or obtained and is using trade secrets is difficult, expensive and time consuming and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, foreign courts are sometimes less willing than U.S. courts to protect trade secrets. If our competitors independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how, we would not be able to assert our trade secrets against them and our business could be harmed.  

Our competitors may independently develop knowledge, methods and know-how equivalent to our trade secrets. Competitors may be able to legally obtain products of ours and replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts for technologies on which we do not have patent protection. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, 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, our competitive position could be harmed.

99

Confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosure of our know-how, trade secrets and other proprietary information and may not adequately protect our intellectual property, which could limit our ability to compete.

We enter into confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with our employees, CROs, CMOs, consultants, collaborators, sponsored researchers, and scientific and other advisors. These agreements generally require that the other party keep confidential and not disclose to third parties all confidential information developed by the party on our behalf or made known to the party by us during the course of the party’s relationship with us. We also enter into intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and certain other service providers, which generally provide that inventions conceived by the party in the course of rendering services to us will be our exclusive property. However, these agreements may not