UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Form 10-K
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Intellectual property litigation could be costly and disruptive to us.
The retractable syringe product lines in which we compete are relatively new inventions with numerous companies having patents. In recent years, there have been several patent infringement suits involving other industry participants. To-date, we have not been subject to any such patent infringement suits and also hold freedom to operate reports which we believe indicate that our technology and associated products are substantially different from other known patents. There is no assurance, however, that third parties will not assert any patent, copyright,trademark and other intellectual property rights to technologies used in our business. Any claims, with or without merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel or require us to pay substantial damages. If we are unsuccessful in defending ourselves against these types of claims, we may be required to do one or more of the following: ? stop, delay or abandon our ongoing or planned commercialization of the product that is the subject of the suit; ? attempt to obtain a license to sell or use the relevant technology or substitute technology, which license may not be available on reasonable terms or at all; or ? redesign those products that use the relevant technology. If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected. In addition to patented technology, we rely on our unpatented proprietary technology, trade secrets, processes and know-how. We generally seek to protect this information by confidentiality agreements with our employees,consultants, scientific advisors and third parties. These agreements may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently developed by competitors. To the extent that our employees, consultants or contractors use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.
All of it @ : http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20100929/pdf/01102503.pdf
UNS Price at posting:
$1.07 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held