Company: LGNZZ
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000886163-25-000012
Chunk: 61

Company: LIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 61
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 or our license partners’ might obtain in the future. For example, on June 1, 2023, the European Union Patent Package (“EU Patent Package”) regulations were implemented with the goal of providing a single pan-European Unitary Patent and a new European Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) for litigation involving European patents. As a result, all European patents, including those issued prior to ratification of the EU Patent Package, now by default automatically fall under the jurisdiction of the UPC. It is uncertain how the UPC will impact granted European patents in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Our or our license partners’ European patent applications, if issued, could be challenged in the UPC. During the first seven years of the UPC’s existence, the UPC legislation allows a patent owner to opt its European patents out of the jurisdiction of the UPC. We or our license partners may decide to opt out future European patents from the UPC, but doing so may preclude us or our license partners from realizing the benefits of the UPC. Moreover, if we or our license partners do not meet all of the formalities and requirements for opt-out under the UPC, our or our license partners’ future European patents could remain under the jurisdiction of the UPC. The UPC will provide our and our license partners’ competitors with a new forum to centrally revoke our European patents, and allow for the possibility of a competitor to obtain pan-European injunction. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our or our license partners business and ability to commercialize our technology and product candidates and, resultantly, on our business, financial condition, prospects and results of operations.

We rely on in-licenses from third parties. If we lose these rights, our business may be materially and adversely affected, our ability to develop improvements to our technology platform may be negatively and substantially impacted, and if disputes arise, we may be subjected to future litigation, as well as the potential loss of or limitations on our ability to incorporate the technology covered by these license agreements.

We are party to royalty-bearing license agreements that grant us rights to practice certain patent rights that are related to our products, platform and technology. In spite of our efforts to comply with our obligations under our in-license agreements, our licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our obligations under our license agreements and might 

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therefore, including in connection with any aforementioned disputes, terminate the relevant license agreement, thereby removing or limiting our ability to develop and commercialize technology covered by these license agreements. If any such in-license is terminated