our license agreements with POSCO Energy on
June 28, 2020, which termination POSCO Energy is disputing. In
addition, effective as of June 11, 2019, we entered into a
License Agreement with EMRE (the “EMRE License Agreement”),
pursuant to which we agreed, subject to the terms of the EMRE
License Agreement, to grant EMRE and its affiliates a
non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid, perpetual, irrevocable,
non-transferrable license and right to use our patents, data,
know-how, improvements, equipment designs, methods, processes and
the like to the extent it is useful to research, develop, and
commercially exploit carbonate fuel cells in applications in which
the fuel cells concentrate carbon dioxide from industrial and power
sources and for any other purpose attendant thereto or associated
therewith. Such right and license is sublicensable to third parties
performing work for or with EMRE or its affiliates, but shall not
otherwise be sublicensable. Furthermore, on November 5, 2019,
we entered into a Joint Development Agreement with EMRE, pursuant
to which we agreed to grant EMRE and its affiliates a worldwide,
non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual,
sub-licensable, non-transferable (subject to certain exceptions)
right and license to practice certain Company background
intellectual property (to the extent not already licensed pursuant
to the EMRE License Agreement) for new carbonate fuel cell
technology in carbon capture applications and hydrogen
applications. We depend on POSCO Energy and EMRE to also protect
our intellectual property rights, but we cannot assure you that
POSCO Energy or EMRE will do so. For example, we have filed a
demand for arbitration against POSCO Energy in the International
Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce
based, in part, on POSCO Energy’s disclosure of our proprietary
information to third parties.
As of October 31, 2020, we
(excluding our subsidiaries) had 102 U.S. patents and 186 patents
in other jurisdictions covering our fuel cell technology (in
certain cases covering the same technology in multiple
jurisdictions), with patents directed to various aspects of our
SureSource technology, solid oxide fuel cell (“SOFC”) technology,
PEM fuel cell technology and applications thereof. As of
October 31, 2020, we also had 55 patent applications pending
in the U.S. and 107 patent applications pending in other
jurisdictions. Our U.S. patents will expire between 2020 and 2039,
and the current average remaining life of our U.S. patents is
approximately 9.5 years. As of October 31, 2020, our
subsidiary, Versa Power Systems, Ltd., had 32 U.S. patents and 93
international patents covering SOFC technology (in certain cases
covering the same technology in multiple jurisdictions), with an
average remaining U.S. patent life of approximately 4.7 years.
As of October 31, 2020, Versa Power Systems, Ltd. also had 3
pending U.S. patent applications and 14 patent applications pending
in other jurisdictions. In addition, as of October 31, 2020,
our subsidiary, FuelCell Energy Solutions, GmbH, had license rights
to 2 U.S. patents and 7 patents outside the U.S. for carbonate fuel
cell technology licensed from Fraunhofer IKTS.
Some of our intellectual
property is not covered by any patent or patent application and
includes trade secrets and other know-how that is not able to be
patented, particularly as it relates to our manufacturing processes
and engineering design. In addition, some of our intellectual
property includes technologies and processes that may be similar to
the patented technologies and processes of third parties. If we are
found to be infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating
third-party intellectual property, we do not know whether we will
be able to obtain licenses to use such intellectual property on
acceptable terms, if at all. Our patent position is subject to
complex factual and legal issues that may give rise to uncertainty
as to the validity, scope, and enforceability of a particular
patent.
We cannot assure you that any
of the U.S. or international patents owned by us (including our
subsidiaries) or other patents that third parties license to us
will not be invalidated, circumvented, challenged, rendered
unenforceable or licensed to others, or that any of our owned or
licensed pending or future patent applications will be issued with
the breadth of claim coverage sought by us or our licensors, if
issued at all. In addition, effective patent, trademark, copyright
and trade secret protection may be unavailable, limited or not
applied for in certain foreign countries.
We also seek to protect our
proprietary intellectual property, including intellectual property
that may not be patented or able to be patented, in part by
confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, inventors’ rights
agreements with our subcontractors, vendors, suppliers,
consultants, strategic business associates and employees. We cannot
assure you that these agreements will not be breached, that we will
have adequate remedies for any breach or that such persons or
institutions will not assert rights to intellectual property
arising out of these relationships. Certain of our intellectual
property has been licensed to us on a non-exclusive basis from
third parties that may also license such intellectual property to
others, including our competitors.