"There is no patent concern here at all IMO. This is ridiculous to keep bringing it up."?
Well, SENIOR MGT didn't, apparently think it "ridiculous", to "keep bringing it up"? They just dedicated an entire section of the most recent (end yr 2013), SEC filed, 10-K to "bringing it up"? Why?
Most recent filed 10-K, PAGE 40 (just ONE example of an entire "section" of the document dedicated to "risk related to PATENTS", but there is much more as the word "patent(s) appears about 140 times in said document)
Latest 10-K, PAGE 40:
"Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
We hold limited patent and other intellectual property rights, and our success will be dependent in large part on safeguarding our existing intellectual property rights and obtaining patent and other proprietary protection for our product candidates.
We hold limited patent rights in our product candidates. Our MyoCath product candidate is protected by a patent, expiring in September 2017, in which we have an irrevocable co-exclusive license. Our MyoCell product candidate is no longer protected by patents, which means that competitors will be free to sell products that incorporate the same or similar technologies that are used in MyoCell without infringing our patent rights. As a result, MyoCell, if approved for use, may be vulnerable to competition in the form of products that use the same or similar technologies. We have previously licensed certain patents and patent applications relating to our MyoCell product candidate. These licenses have all lapsed as of the date of this report, although we have had discussions with the relevant licensor regarding a potential reinstatement of our rights in such licenses.
Our commercial success will depend to a significant degree on our ability to:
·
compel the owners of the patents licensed to us to defend and enforce such patents, to the extent such patents may be applicable to our products and material to their commercialization;
·
obtain new patent and other proprietary protection for MyoCell and our other product candidates;
·
obtain and/or maintain appropriate licenses to patents, patent applications or other proprietary rights held by others with respect to our technology, both in the United States and other countries;
·
preserve intellectual property rights relating to our product candidates; and
·
operate without infringing the patents and proprietary rights of third parties.
Failure to obtain adequate patent protection for our product candidates, or the failure to protect our existing patent rights, may impair our ability to be competitive. The availability of infringing products in markets where we have patent protection, or the availability of competing products in markets where we do not have adequate patent protection, could erode the market for our product candidates, negatively impact the prices we can charge for our product candidates, and harm our reputation if infringing or competing products are manufactured to inferior standards."
That's the Sr. Mgt in their own words, and a LOT of "talk" discussing the importance of "patents" and how they can adversely impact their "chances" at potential business success, present or future.
I personally have to go with the words of Sr. Mgt and their duly filed, legally binding SEC documents, as I, IMO believe they are in the best position to know and understand what they put in those SEC filings. They put every word in their for a reason.
