Company: DVAX
Filing Date: 2025-08-07
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001029142-25-000117
Chunk: 181

Company: DYNAVAX TECHNOLOGIES CORP
Filing Date: 2025-08-07
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part II, Item 1A
Chunk 181
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ize, or prevent us from developing and commercializing, our product candidates, which could severely harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

We may rely, in some circumstances, on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our technology. Although trade secrets are difficult to protect, wherever possible, we use confidential disclosure agreements to protect the proprietary nature of our technology. Our standard practice is to require each of our collaborators, commercial partners, employees, consultants, contractors and advisors to enter into an agreement before beginning their employment, consulting or advisory relationship with us that in general provides that the individuals must keep confidential and not disclose to other parties any of our confidential information developed or learned by the individuals during the course of their relationship with us except in limited circumstances. These agreements with employees, consultants and contractors also generally provide that we own all inventions conceived by the individuals in the course of rendering their employment or services to us. However, there can be no assurance that these agreements will not be breached, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, or that our trade secrets and/or proprietary information will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our employees, consultants or contractors use 

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intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may also arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions, which could result in substantial costs which could severely harm our business.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements. 

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications are due to be paid to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and various governmental patent agencies outside of the U.S. in several stages over the lifetime of the patents and/or applications. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply, and in many cases an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. However, there are situations in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdictions, and in such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property