VHC VirnetX Holding Corp

ITEM 1A — RISK FACTORS

Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common and capital stock. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below in addition to the other information set forth in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes, before making any investment in our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business. If any of these risk factors occur, you could lose substantial value or your entire investment in our shares.

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Financial Reporting

We are involved and will continue to be involved in litigation defending our patent portfolio, which can be time-consuming and costly and we cannot anticipate the results.

We spend a significant amount of our financial and management resources to pursue our current litigation. We believe that this litigation and others that we may pursue in the future could continue for years and consume significant financial and management resources. The counterparties to our litigation include large, well-financed companies with substantially greater resources than us. Patent litigation is risky and the outcome is uncertain, and we cannot assure you that any of our current or future litigation matters will result in a favorable outcome for us. In addition, even if we obtain favorable interim rulings or verdicts, they may be inconsistent with the ultimate resolution of the dispute. Also, we cannot assure you that we will not be exposed to claims or sanctions against us which may be costly or impossible for us to defend. Unfavorable or adverse outcomes may result in losses, exhaustion of financial resources or other adverse effects, which could encumber our ability to develop and commercialize our products.

We may need to raise additional capital to support our business growth, and this capital will be dilutive, may cause our stock price to drop or may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

We may need to raise additional capital, which may not be available to us when needed or may not be available on terms acceptable to us, to support our business growth or to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances, including sales under our ATM or our universal shelf registration statement. Our ability to obtain additional capital, if and when required, will depend on our business plans, investor demand, our operating performance, the condition of the capital markets, the terms of our current contractual obligations and other factors. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-linked or debt securities, including those under our ATM or our Universal Shelf Registration Statement, those securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to the rights of our common stock, and our existing stockholders may experience dilution. Additionally, we are unable to predict the future success of our ATM offering or any other offering. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales or other financings might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could also impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. If we issue debt securities or incur indebtedness, we could experience increased future payment obligations and a need to comply with restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we are unable to obtain additional capital, or are unable to obtain additional capital on satisfactory terms, our ability to continue to support our business growth or to respond to business opportunities, challenges, or other circumstances could be adversely affected, and our business may be harmed.

 

We have terminated our revenue sharing and licensing arrangement with PITA and we cannot be sure any of our potential alternative strategies in Japan, or elsewhere, will be successful.

As previously disclosed in our public filings, the PITA Agreements terminated in March 2018. PITA may dispute the effectiveness of that termination and litigation, which may be expensive and distracting to management, may ensue. Although we intend to pursue alternative strategies in our expansion efforts in Japan and other countries, including potential partnerships, joint ventures and other arrangements with third parties, we cannot be sure these efforts will be successful or be favorable to us.

We may not be able to capitalize on market opportunities related to our licensing strategy or our patent portfolio.

Our business strategy includes licensing our patents and technology to other companies in order to reach a larger end-user base than we could reach through direct sales and marketing efforts; as such, our business strategy and revenues will depend on intellectual property licensing fees and royalties for the majority of our revenues. We currently derive minimal revenue from licensing activities and we cannot assure you that we will successfully capitalize on our market opportunities or that our current business strategy will succeed. Factors that may affect our ability to execute our current business strategy include, but are not limited to, the following:

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Although to date we have entered into a limited number of settlement and license agreements, we may not be successful in entering into further licensing relationships, or if we are successful in entering into such relationships, the acquisition of them may be expensive, and they, as well as our existing settlement and our existing and pending license agreements may not generate the financial results we expect;

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Third parties may challenge the validity of our patents;

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The pendency of our various litigations may cause potential licensees not to do business with us;

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We face, and we expect to continue to face, intense competition from new and established competitors who may have superior products and services or better marketing, financial or other capacities than we do; and

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It is possible that one or more of our potential customers or licensees develops or otherwise sources products or technologies similar to, competitive with or superior to ours.

If we are not able to adequately protect our patent rights, our business would be negatively impacted.

We believe our patents are valid, enforceable and valuable. Notwithstanding this belief, third parties may make claims of infringement or invalidity claims with respect to our patents and such claims could give rise to material cost for defense or settlement or both, jeopardize or substantially delay a successful outcome of litigation we are or may become involved in, divert resources away from our other activities, limit or cease our revenues related to such patents, or otherwise materially and adversely affect our business. Similar challenges could also prevent us from obtaining additional patents in the future. Additionally, several of our patents are currently, and other patents may in the future be, subject to United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) post-grant inter partes review proceedings (“IPR”) which may result in all or part of these patents being invalidated, or the claims of our patents being limited. Unfavorable or adverse outcomes in our litigation or IPRs may result in losses, exhaustion of financial resources, reduction in our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights, or other adverse effects, which could encumber our ability to develop and commercialize our products. Even if we are successful in enforcing our intellectual property rights, our patents may not ultimately provide us with any competitive advantages and may be less valuable than we currently expect. These risks may be heightened in countries other than the United States where laws regarding patent protection are less developed and may be negatively affected by the fact that legal standards in the United States and elsewhere for protection of intellectual property rights in Internet-related businesses are uncertain and still evolving. In addition, there are a significant number of United States and foreign patents and patent applications in our areas of interest, and we expect that significant litigation in these areas will continue and will add uncertainty to the value of certain patents and other intellectual property rights in our areas of interest. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights or otherwise realize value from them, our business would be negatively affected.

 

We can provide no assurances that the licensing of our essential security patents under FRAND will be successful.

At the request of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (“ETSI”), and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (“ATIS”), we agreed to update our licensing declaration to ETSI and ATIS under their respective Intellectual Property Rights policies. This was in response to our Statement of Patent Holder identifying a group of our patents and patent applications that we believe are or may become essential to certain developing specifications in the 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (“LTE”), Systems Architecture Evolution (“SAE”) project. We will make available a non-exclusive patent license under FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, with compensation) for the patents identified by us that are or become essential, to applicants desiring to implement the Technical Specifications identified by us, as set forth in the updated licensing declaration under the ATIS and ETSI Intellectual Property Rights policies. Our licensing declarations under the ATIS and ETSI Intellectual Property Rights policies may limit our flexibility in determining royalties and license terms for certain of our patents. Consequently, we cannot assure you that the licensing of the essential security patents will be successful or that third parties will be willing to enter into licenses with us on reasonable terms or at all, which could have an adverse effect on our business and harm our competitive position.

Because our business is conducted or expected to be conducted in an environment that is subject to rapid change, we may be subject to various developments in regulation, law and consumer preferences to which we may not be able to adapt successfully.

The current regulatory environment for our products and services remains unclear. We can give no assurance that our planned product offerings will be in compliance with laws and regulations of local, state, United States federal or foreign authorities. Further, we can give no assurance that we will not unintentionally violate such laws or regulations or that such laws or regulations will not be modified, or that new laws or regulations will be enacted in the future which would cause us to be in violation of such laws or regulations. For example, Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP”) services are not currently subject to all the same regulations that apply to traditional telephony, but it is possible that similar regulations may be applied to VoIP in the future and that these could result in substantial costs to us which could adversely affect the marketability of our products and planned products related to VoIP. For further example, the use of the Internet and private Internet Protocol (“IP”) networks for communication is largely unregulated within the United States, but may become regulated in the future; Additionally, several foreign governments have enacted measures that could restrict or prohibit voice communications services over the Internet or private IP networks.

Our business depends on the growth of instant messaging, VoIP, mobile services, streaming video, file transfer and remote desktop and other next-generation Internet-based applications. A decline in the use of these applications due to complexity or cost of these applications relative to alternate traditional or newly developed communications channels, or development of alternative technologies, could cause a material decline in the number of users in these areas.

More aggressive domestic or international regulation of the Internet in general, and Internet telephony providers and services specifically may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and future prospects.

Our exposure to outside influences beyond our control, including new legislation, court rulings or actions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, could adversely affect our licensing and enforcement activities and results of operations.

Our licensing and enforcement activities are subject to numerous risks from outside influences, including the following:

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New legislation, regulations or rules related to obtaining patents or enforcing patents could significantly increase our operating costs and decrease our revenue. For instance, the United States Supreme Court has recently modified some tests used by the USPTO in granting patents during the past 20 years which may decrease the likelihood that we will be able to obtain patents and increase the likelihood of challenge of any patents we obtain or license. In addition, the United States recently enacted sweeping changes to the United States patent system under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, including changes that transition the United States from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first to file” system and alter the processes for challenging issued patents;

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More patent applications are filed each year resulting in longer delays in getting patents issued by the USPTO;

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Federal courts are becoming more crowded, and as a result, patent enforcement litigation is taking longer; and

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As patent enforcement becomes more prevalent, it may become more difficult for us to voluntarily license our patents.

New legislation, regulations or court rulings related to enforcing patents could harm our business and operating results.

Intellectual property is the subject of intense scrutiny by the courts, legislatures and executive branches of governments around the world. Various patent offices, governments or intergovernmental bodies may implement new legislation, regulations or rulings that impact the patent enforcement process, or the rights of patent holders and such changes could negatively affect licensing efforts and/or litigations. For example, limitations on the ability to bring patent enforcement claims, limitations on potential liability for patent infringement, lower evidentiary standards for invalidating patents, increases in the cost to resolve patent disputes and other similar developments could negatively affect our ability to assert our patent or other intellectual property rights.

 

It is impossible to determine the extent of the impact of any new laws, regulations or initiatives that may be proposed, or whether any of the proposals will become enacted as laws. Compliance with any new or existing laws or regulations could be difficult and expensive, affect the manner in which we conduct our business and negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

If we experience security breaches, we could be exposed to liability and our reputation and business could suffer.

We expect to retain certain confidential and proprietary customer information in our secure data centers and secure domain name registry, as well as personal data and other confidential and proprietary information relating to our business. It will be critical to our business strategy that our facilities and infrastructure remain secure and are perceived by the marketplace to be secure. Our secure domain name registry operations will also depend on our ability to maintain our computer and telecommunications equipment in effective working order and to reasonably protect our systems against interruption, and potentially depend on protection by other registrars in the shared registration system. The secure domain name servers that we will operate will be critical hardware to our registry services operations. Therefore, we expect to have to expend significant time and money to maintain or increase the security of our products, facilities and infrastructure. Security technologies are constantly being tested by computer professionals, academics and “hackers.” Advances in computer capabilities and the techniques for attacking security solutions, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments could result in compromises or breaches of our security measures and could make some or all our products obsolete or unmarketable. Likewise, if any of our products are found to have significant security vulnerabilities, then we may need to dedicate engineering and other resources to eliminate the vulnerabilities and to repair or replace products already sold or licensed to our customers. Despite the security measures that we and our service providers utilize, our infrastructure and that of our service providers may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers, phishing attacks, social engineering, or similar disruptive problems. It is possible that we may have to expend additional financial and other resources to address such problems. As a provider of Internet security software and technology, we may be the target of dedicated efforts by hackers and other third parties to overcome or defeat our security measures. Any physical or electronic break-in or other security breach or compromise of the information stored at our secure data centers and domain name registration systems, including any compromise due to human error or employee or contractor malfeasance, may jeopardize the security of information stored on our premises or in the computer systems and networks of our customers. In such an event, we could face significant liability and current or potential customers could be reluctant to use our services. Additionally, any such data security incident, or the perception that one has occurred could also result in adverse publicity and therefore adversely affect the market’s perception of the security of electronic commerce and communications over IP networks as well as the security or reliability of our services.

A security breach or other security incident could require a substantial level of financial resources to rectify and could result in a claim and investigation that cause us to incur substantial fines, penalties, or other liability and related legal and other costs. Any actual or perceived security breach or other security incident may also harm our reputation and make it more difficult or impossible for us to successfully market to others. Any of the foregoing matters could harm our operating results and financial condition.

Privacy and data security concerns, and data collection and transfer restrictions and related domestic or foreign regulations may limit the use and adoption of our solutions and adversely affect our business.

Personal privacy, information security, and data protection are significant issues in the United States, Europe and many other jurisdictions where we have operations or offer our products. The regulatory framework governing the collection, processing, storage and use of confidential and proprietary business information and personal data is rapidly evolving. The United States. federal and various state and foreign governments have adopted or proposed requirements regarding the collection, distribution, use, security and storage of personally identifiable information and other data relating to individuals, and federal and state consumer protection laws are being applied to enforce regulations related to the online collection, use and dissemination of data.

Further, many foreign countries and governmental bodies, including the European Union (EU”), where we conduct business, have laws and regulations concerning the collection and use of personal data obtained from their residents or by businesses operating within their jurisdiction. These laws and regulations often are more restrictive than those in the United States. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, disclosure and security of data that identifies or may be used to identify or locate an individual, such as names, email addresses and, in some jurisdictions, IP addresses.

 

We also expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security in the United States, the EU, and other jurisdictions. For example, the European Commission has adopted a General Data Protection Regulation, which will be fully effective on May 25, 2018, that will supersede current EU data protection legislation, impose more stringent EU data protection requirements, and provide for greater penalties for noncompliance. We cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. Privacy, data protection and information security laws and regulations are often subject to differing interpretations, may be inconsistent among jurisdictions, and may be alleged to be inconsistent with our current or future practices. Additionally, we may be bound by contractual requirements applicable to our collection, use, processing, and disclosure of various types of data, including personal data, and may be bound by, or voluntarily comply with, self-regulatory or other industry standards relating to these matters. These and other requirements could reduce demand for our products, increase our costs, impair our ability to grow our business, or restrict our ability to store and process data or, in some cases, impact our ability to offer our service in some locations and may subject us to liability. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, industry standards, and contractual obligations may adversely affect our business. Further, in view of new or modified federal, state or foreign laws and regulations, industry standards, contractual obligations and other legal obligations, or any changes in their interpretation, we may find it necessary or desirable to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or to expend significant resources to modify our product and otherwise adapt to these changes. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and our ability to develop new products and features could be limited.

The costs of compliance with and other burdens imposed by laws, regulations and standards may limit the use and adoption of our service and reduce overall demand for it, or lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for any noncompliance. Privacy, information security, and data protection concerns, whether valid or not valid, may inhibit market adoption of our platform, particularly in certain industries and foreign countries.

We expect that we will experience long and unpredictable sales cycles, which may impact our operating results.

The sales cycle between initial customer contact and execution of a contract or license agreement with a customer or purchaser of our products can vary widely. We expect that our sales cycles will be long and unpredictable due to several factors, including but not limited to:

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The need to educate potential customers about our patent rights and our product and service capabilities;

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Our customers’ willingness to invest potentially substantial resources and modify their network infrastructures to take advantage of our products;

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Our customers’ budgetary constraints;

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The timing of our customers’ budget cycles;

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Delays caused by customers’ internal review processes; and

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Long sales cycles that may increase the risk that our financial resources are exhausted before we are able to generate significant revenue.

In addition, potential customers of our products include local, state, federal and foreign government authorities. Sales to government authorities can be extended and unpredictable. Government authorities generally have complex budgeting, purchasing, and regulatory processes that govern their capital spending, and their spending is likely to be adversely impacted by economic conditions. In addition, in many instances, sales to government authorities may require field trials and may be delayed by the time it takes for government officials to evaluate multiple competing bids, negotiate terms, and award contracts.

For these reasons the sales cycle associated with our products is subject to a number of significant risks that are beyond our control. Consequently, if our forecasted customer orders are not realized or delayed, our revenues and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If we are unable to expand our revenue sources or establish, sustain, grow or replace relationships with a diversified customer base, our revenues may be limited.

We currently generate revenue from a limited number of customers that have entered Settlement and License Agreements. Although our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is currently generating limited revenue, it will take time for us to grow our installed user base and generate new customers. Additionally, there is no guarantee that we will be able to derive revenue from new customers, sustain or increase revenue from existing customers or replace customers from whom we currently generate revenue. As a result, our revenue may be limited or static.

We have limited technical resources and are at an early stage in commercialization of our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™.

Part of our business includes the internal development of commercial products we seek to monetize. This aspect of our business may require significant capital, time and resources and we cannot guarantee that it will be successful or meet our expectations. We currently have only one commercial product, the GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™. As such, we have a small technical team, which may limit our ability to rapidly adapt our product to customer requirements or add new product features to maintain our competitive edge and drive adoption. Based on the scale of our technical resources, our limited historical financial data upon which to base our projected revenue or planned operating expenses related to our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™, we may not be able to effectively:

 

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Generate revenues or profit from product sales;

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Drive adoption of our products;

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Attract and retain customers for our products;

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Provide appropriate levels of customer training and support for our products;

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Implement an effective marketing strategy to promote awareness of our products;

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Focus our research and development efforts in areas that generate returns on our efforts;

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Anticipate and adapt to changes in our market; or

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Protect our products from any system failures or other breaches.

In addition, a high percentage of our expenses are and will continue to be fixed. Accordingly, if we do not generate revenue as and when anticipated, our losses may be greater than expected and our operating results will suffer.

Our products are highly technical and may contain undetected errors, which could cause harm to our reputation and adversely affect our business.

Our products are highly technical and complex and, when deployed, may contain errors or defects. Despite testing, some errors in our products may only be discovered after a product has been installed and used by customers. Any errors or defects discovered in our products after commercial release could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, loss of revenue or delay in revenue recognition, loss of customers and increased service and warranty cost, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, we could face claims for product liability, tort or breach of warranty, including claims relating to changes to our products made by our channel partners. The performance of our products could have unforeseen or unknown adverse effects on the networks over which they are delivered as well as on third-party applications and services that utilize our services, which could result in legal claims against us, harming our business. Furthermore, we expect to provide implementation, consulting and other technical services in connection with the implementation and ongoing maintenance of our products, which typically involves working with sophisticated software, computing and communications systems. We expect that our contracts with customers will contain provisions relating to warranty disclaimers and liability limitations, which may not be upheld. Defending a lawsuit, regardless of its merit, is costly and may divert management’s attention and adversely affect the market’s perception of us and our products. In addition, if our business liability insurance coverage proves inadequate or future coverage is unavailable on acceptable terms or at all, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely impacted.

Malfunctions of third-party communications infrastructure, hardware and software expose us to a variety of risks that we cannot control.

Our business will depend upon, among other things, the capacity, reliability, security and unimpeded access of the infrastructure owned by third parties that we will use to deploy our offerings. We have no control over the operation, quality or maintenance of a significant portion of that infrastructure or whether or not those third parties will upgrade or improve their equipment. We depend on these companies to maintain the operational integrity of our connections. If one or more of these companies is unable or unwilling to supply or expand its levels of service to us in the future, our operations could be severely interrupted. Also, to the extent that the number of users of networks utilizing our current or future products suddenly increases, the technology platform and secure hosting services which will be required to accommodate a higher volume of traffic may result in slower response times or service interruptions. System interruptions or increases in response time could result in a loss of potential or existing users and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the appeal of the networks to users. In addition, users depend on real-time communications; outages caused by increased traffic could result in delays and system failures. These types of occurrences could cause users to perceive that our solution does not function properly and could therefore adversely affect our ability to attract and retain licensees, strategic partners and customers.

System failure or interruption or our failure to meet increasing demands on our systems could harm our business.

The success of our license and service offerings will depend on the uninterrupted operation of various systems, secure data centers and other computer and communication networks that we establish. To the extent, the number of users of networks utilizing our future products suddenly increases, the technology platform and hosting services which will be required to accommodate a higher volume of traffic may result in slower response times, service interruptions or delays or system failures. Our systems and operations will also be vulnerable to damage or interruption from, among other things:

 

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Power loss, transmission cable cuts and other telecommunications failures;

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Damage or interruption caused by fire, earthquake, and other natural disasters;

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Computer viruses or software defects; and

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Physical or electronic break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorist attacks and other events beyond our control.

System interruptions or failures and increases or delays in response time could result in a loss of potential or existing users and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the appeal of the networks to users. These types of occurrences could cause users to perceive that our solution does not function properly and could therefore adversely affect our ability to attract and retain licensees, strategic partners and customers.

Any significant problem with our systems or operations could result in lost revenue, customer dissatisfaction or lawsuits against us. A failure in the operation of our secure domain name registration system could result in the inability of one or more registrars to register and maintain secure domain names for a period of time. A failure in the operation or update of the master directory that we plan to maintain could result in deletion or discontinuation of assigned secure domain names for a period of time. The inability of the registrar systems we establish, including our back-office billing and collections infrastructure, and telecommunications systems to meet the demands of an increasing number of secure domain name requests could result in substantial degradation in our customer support service and our ability to process registration requests in a timely manner.

Our ability to sell our solutions will be dependent on the quality of our technical support, and our failure to deliver high-quality technical support services could have a material adverse effect on our sales and results of operations.

If we do not effectively assist our customers in deploying our products, succeed in helping our customers quickly resolve post-deployment issues and provide effective ongoing support, or if potential customers perceive that we may not be able achieve to the foregoing, our ability to sell our products would be adversely affected, and our reputation with current and potential customers could be harmed. In addition, as we expand our operations internationally, our technical support team will face additional challenges, including those associated with delivering support, training and documentation in languages other than English. Our failure to deliver and maintain high-quality technical support services to our customers could result in customers choosing to use our competitors’ products and support services instead of ours in the future.

Telephone carriers have petitioned governmental agencies to enforce regulatory tariffs, which, if granted, would increase the cost of online communication, and such increase in cost may impede the growth of online communication and adversely affect our business.

Use of the Internet has over-burdened existing telecommunications infrastructures, and many high traffic areas have begun to experience interruptions in service. As a result, certain local telephone carriers have petitioned governmental agencies to enforce regulatory tariffs on IP telephony traffic that crosses over their traditional telephone networks. If the relief sought in these petitions is granted, the costs of communicating via online could increase substantially, potentially adversely affecting the growth in the use of online secure communications. Any of these developments could have an adverse effect on our business.

The departure of Kendall Larsen, our Chief Executive Officer and President, and/or other key personnel could compromise our ability to execute our strategic plan and may result in additional severance costs to us.

Our success largely depends on the skills, experience and performance of our key personnel. Due to the specialized nature of our business and limited staff, we are particularly dependent on Kendall Larsen, our Chief Executive Officer and President. We have no employment agreements with any of our key executives that prevent them from leaving us at any time. In addition, we do not maintain key person life insurance for any of our officers or key employees. The loss of Mr. Larsen, or our failure to retain other key personnel or failure to adequately plan for the succession of key personnel, would jeopardize our ability to execute our strategic plan and materially harm our business.

We will need to recruit and retain additional qualified personnel to successfully grow our business.

Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to attract and retain qualified engineering, operations, marketing, sales and executive personnel. Inability to attract and retain such personnel could adversely affect our business. Competition for engineering, operations, marketing, sales and executive personnel is intense, particularly in the technology and Internet sectors and in the regions where we conduct our business. We may need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity to attract and retain employees and expend significant time and resources to identify, recruit, train and integrate such employees, and we may never realize returns on these investments. Additionally, we can provide no assurance that we will attract or retain such personnel.

 

Our international expansion will subject us to additional costs and risks, and our plans may not be successful.

We expect to expand our presence internationally through, for example, international partnerships with third parties and the possibility of establishing international subsidiaries and offices. Our international expansion may present challenges and risks, including those inherent in international operations, to us and may require significant attention from management. We may not be successful in our international partnerships, expansion efforts, and we may incur significant operating expenses

We may identify future material weakness which may result in late filings, increased costs or declines in our share price.

Although we believe that we currently maintain effective control over our disclosures and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we may in the future identify deficiencies regarding the design and effectiveness of our system of internal control over financial reporting. If we experience any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting the future or are unable to provide unqualified management or attestation reports about our internal controls, we may be unable to meet financial and other reporting deadlines and may incur costs associated with remediation, and any of which could cause our share price to decline.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Trading in our common stock is limited and the price of our common shares may be subject to substantial volatility.

Our common stock is listed on the NYSE American LLC (formerly the NYSE MKT LLC). Over the past years, the market price of our common stock has experienced significant fluctuations. Between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018, the reported last adjusted closing price on NYSE American LLC for our common stock ranged between $2.10 and $8.25 per share. The price of our common stock may continue to be volatile as a result of several factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include, but not limited to, the following:

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Developments or lack thereof in any then-outstanding litigation;

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Quarterly variations in our operating results;

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Large purchases or sales of common stock or derivative transactions related to our stock;

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Actual or anticipated announcements of new products or services by us or competitors;

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General conditions in the markets in which we compete; and

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General social, political, economic and financial conditions, including the significant volatility in the global financial markets.

In addition, we believe there has been and may continue to be substantial trading in derivatives of our stock, including short selling activity or related similar activities, which are beyond our control and which may be beyond the full control of the SEC and Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority or “FINRA”. While the SEC and FINRA rules prohibit some forms of short selling and other activities that may result in stock price manipulation, such activity may nonetheless occur without detection or enforcement. We have held conversations with regulators concerning trading activity in our stock; however, there can be no assurance that should there be any illegal manipulation in the trading of our stock, it will be detected, prosecuted or successfully eradicated. Significant short selling or other types of market manipulation could cause our stock trading price to decline, to become more volatile, or both.

The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

The trading price of our common stock has been volatile since our initial public offering and is likely to continue to be volatile. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the market price of our common stock include, but are not limited to the following:

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Price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

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Volatility in the market prices and trading volumes of companies in our industry or companies that investors consider comparable;

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Changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other companies generally, or those in our industry;

 

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Sales of shares of our common stock by us or our stockholders;

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Failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow us, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

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The financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;

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Announcements by us or our competitors of new products or services;

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The public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements and filings with the SEC;

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Rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;

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Actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations;

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Actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;

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Litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;

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Announced or completed acquisitions of businesses or technologies by us or our competitors;

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New laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;

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Changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;

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Any significant change in our management; and

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General economic conditions and slow or negative growth of our markets.

Further, in recent years the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In addition, the stock prices of many technology companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, government shutdowns, interest rate changes the stability of the EU and the exit of the United Kingdom or international currency fluctuations, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies.

We do not currently pay dividends on our common stock and thus stockholders must look to appreciation of our common stock to realize a gain on their investments.

Our dividend policy is within the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon various factors, including our business, financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, and investment opportunities. We therefore cannot make assurances that our Board of Directors will determine to pay regular or special dividends in the future. Accordingly, unless our Board of Directors determines to pay dividends, stockholders will be required to look to appreciation of our common stock to realize a gain on their investment. This appreciation may not occur.

The exercise of our outstanding stock options, RSU’s and issuance of new shares would result in a dilution of our current stockholders’ voting power and an increase in the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market which may negatively impact the market price of our stock.

The exercise of our outstanding vested stock options would dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. As of March 31, 2018, we had outstanding options to purchase an aggregate of 5,808,066 shares of common stock representing approximately 9% of our total shares outstanding of which 3,368,513 were vested and therefore exercisable. To the extent outstanding stock options are exercised, additional shares of common stock will be issued, existing stockholders’ percentage voting interests will decline and the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market will increase. Such increase may have a negative effect on the value or market trading price of our common stock.

 

The market price of our common stock may decline because our operating results may not be consistent and may be difficult to predict.

Our reported net income has fluctuated in the past due to several factors. We expect that our future operating results may also fluctuate due to the same or similar factors. We had a net loss of $28.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2016, a net loss of $17.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, and a net loss of $7.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, with an accumulated deficit of $181 million. The following include some of the factors that may cause our operating results to fluctuate:

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The outcome of actions to enforce our intellectual property rights currently in progress or that we may undertake in the future, and the timing thereof;

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The amount and timing of receipt of license fees from potential infringers, licensees or customers;

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The rate of adoption of our patented technologies;

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The number of new license arrangements we may execute, or that may expire, within a particular period and the scope of those licenses, including the number of our patents which are licensed, the extent of prior infringement of our patent rights, royalty rates, timing of payment obligations, expiration date etc.;

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The success of a licensee in selling products that use our patented technologies; and

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The amount and timing of expenses related to our patent filings and enforcement proceedings, including litigation, related to our intellectual property rights.

These fluctuations may make our business particularly difficult to manage, adversely affect our business and operating results, make our operating results difficult for investors to predict and, further, cause our results to fall below investor’s expectations and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Because ownership of our common stock is concentrated, investors may have limited influence on stockholder decisions.

As of March 31, 2018, our executive officers and directors beneficially owned approximately 14.7% of our outstanding common stock. In addition, a group of stockholders that, as of December 31, 2007, held 4,766,666 shares, or approximately 8% of our outstanding common stock, have entered into a voting agreement with us that requires them to vote all of their shares of our voting stock in favor of the director nominees approved by our Board of Directors at each director election going forward, and in a manner that is proportional to the votes cast by all other voting shares as to any other matters submitted to the stockholders for a vote. However, we cannot be certain how many shares of our common stock this group of stockholders currently owns. Because of their beneficial ownership interest, our officers and directors could significantly influence stockholder actions of which you disapprove or that are contrary to your interests. This ability to exercise significant influence could prevent or significantly delay another company from acquiring or merging with us.

Our protective provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws could make it difficult for a third party to successfully acquire us even if you would like to sell your stock to them.

We have a number of protective provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws that could delay, discourage or prevent a third party from acquiring control of us without the approval of our Board of Directors. These protective provisions include:

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A staggered Board of Directors: This means that only one or two directors (since we have a five-person Board of Directors) will be up for election at any given annual meeting. This has the effect of delaying the ability of stockholders to affect a change in control of us because it would take two annual meetings to effectively replace a majority of the Board of Directors.

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Blank check preferred stock : Our Board of Directors has the authority to establish the rights, preferences and privileges of our 10,000,000 authorized, but unissued, shares of preferred stock. Therefore, this stock may be issued at the discretion of our Board of Directors with preferences over your shares of our common stock in a manner that is materially dilutive to you. In addition, blank check preferred stock can be used to create a “poison pill” which is designed to deter a hostile bidder from buying a controlling interest in our stock without the approval of our Board of Directors. We have not adopted such a “poison pill;” but our Board of Directors has the ability to do so in the future, very rapidly and without stockholder approval.

 

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Advance notice requirements for director nominations and for new business to be brought up at stockholder meetings:   Stockholders wishing to submit director nominations or raise matters to a vote of the stockholders must provide notice to us within very specific date windows and in very specific form in order to have the matter voted on at a stockholder meeting. This has the effect of giving our Board of Directors and management more time to react to stockholder proposals generally and could also have the effect of disregarding a stockholder proposal or deferring it to a subsequent meeting to the extent such proposal is not raised properly.

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No stockholder actions by written consent: No stockholder or group of stockholders may take actions rapidly and without prior notice to our Board of Directors and management or to the minority stockholders. Along with the advance notice requirements described above, this provision also gives our Board of Directors and management more time to react to proposed stockholder actions.

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Super majority requirement for stockholder amendments to the By-laws: Stockholder proposals to alter or amend our By-laws or to adopt new By-laws can only be approved by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares of our common stock.

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No ability of stockholders to call a special meeting of the stockholders: Only the Board of Directors or management can call special meetings of the stockholders. This could mean that stockholders, even those who represent a significant percentage of our shares of common stock, may need to wait for the annual meeting before nominating directors or raising other business proposals to be voted on by the stockholders.

In addition, the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporate Law govern us. These provisions may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for a certain period of time.

These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts, reduce the price that investors might be willing to pay for shares of our common stock in the future and result in the market price being lower than it would be without these provisions