DSS, INC. - Annual Report: 2008 (Form 10-K)
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Form
10-K
xAnnual Report under
Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities
Exchange
Act of 1934
For
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008
or
¨Transitional Report
under Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities
Exchange Act of 1934
1-32146
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Commission
file number
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DOCUMENT
SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC.
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(Exact
name of Registrant as specified in its
charter)
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New
York
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16-1229730
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(State
of incorporation)
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(IRS
Employer Identification Number)
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First
Federal Plaza
28
East Main Street, Suite 1525
Rochester,
New York 14614
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(Address
of principal executive
office)
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(585)
325-3610
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(Registrant’s
telephone number)
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Securities
registered under Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class
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Name of each exchange on which
registered
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Common
Stock (Par Value - $0.02)
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NYSE
Amex Equities
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Securities
registered under to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer as defined in
Rule 405 of the Securities Act
YES ¨ NO
x
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to
Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act.
YES ¨ NO
x
INDICATE
BY CHECK MARK WHETHER THE REGISTRANT:
(1) has
filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period
that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject
to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES x NO
¨
Indicate
by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of
Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this
Chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of
registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements
incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this
Form 10-K. ¨
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an
accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer filer.
Large
Accelerated Filer ¨ Accelerated
Filer ¨ Non-Accelerated
Filer ¨ Smaller
Reporting Company x
Indicate by check mark whether the
registrant is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Act).Yes
¨
Nox
The
aggregate market value of the stock held by non-affiliates (7,416,786 shares)
computed by reference to the closing price of such stock ($4.90), as of June 30,
2008, was $36,342,251.
As of
March 26, 2009, there were 14,697,556 shares of Common Stock
of Document Security Systems, Inc. issued.
DOCUMENTS
INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
The
definitive proxy statement relating to the registrant’s Annual Meeting of
Stockholders, to be held on May 28, 2009, is incorporated by reference into Part
III of this Form 10-K to the extent described therein.
2
DOCUMENT
SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. & SUBSIDIARIES
Table
of Contents
PART
I
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ITEM
1.
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BUSINESS
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4
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ITEM
1A.
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RISK
FACTORS
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11
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ITEM
2.
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PROPERTIES
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17
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ITEM
3.
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LEGAL
PROCEEDINGS
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17
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ITEM
4.
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SUBMISSION
OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS
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19
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PART
II
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ITEM
5.
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MARKET
FOR THE REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER
PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
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20
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ITEM
7.
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MANAGEMENT’S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF
OPERATIONS
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21
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ITEM
8.
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FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
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33
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ITEM
9.
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CHANGES
IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL
DISCLOSURE
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33
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ITEM
9A(T).
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CONTROLS
AND PROCEDURES
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33
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PART
III
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ITEM
10.
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DIRECTORS,
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
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36
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ITEM
11.
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EXECUTIVE
COMPENSATION
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36
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ITEM
12.
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SECURITY
OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED
STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
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36
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ITEM
13.
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CERTAIN
RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR
INDEPENDENCE
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36
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ITEM
14.
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PRINCIPAL
ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
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36
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EXHIBITS
AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
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36
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SIGNATURES
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40
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3
ITEM
1 - DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
Overview
Document
Security Systems, Inc. (referred to in this report as “Document Security,” “we,”
“us,” “our” or “Company”) markets, produces and sells products designed to
protect valuable information from unauthorized scanning, copying, and digital
imaging. We have developed security technologies that are applied
during the normal printing process and by all printing methods including
traditional offset, gravure, flexo, digital or via the internet on paper,
plastic, or packaging. We hold patents and patent pendings that protect our
technology. Our technologies and products are used by federal, state
and local governments, law enforcement agencies and are also applied to a broad
variety of industries as well, including financial institutions, high technology
and consumer goods, entertainment and gaming, healthcare/pharmaceutical, defense
and genuine parts industries. Our customers use our
technologies where there is a need for enhanced security for protecting and
verification of critical financial instruments and vital records, or where there
are concerns of counterfeiting, fraud, identity theft, brand protection and
liability.
We were
organized as a New York corporation in 1984, and in 2002, chose to strategically
focus on becoming a developer and marketer of secure technologies for all forms
of print media. To accomplish this, we acquired Lester Levin, Inc, an
operator of a small printing company, an Internet-based business called
Legalstore.com, and Thomas M. Wicker Enterprises, Inc. and Document Security
Consultants, Inc., two privately owned companies engaged in the document
security technology business with rights to certain patents developed by certain
members of the Wicker Family. As a result of these acquisitions, we
compiled the basis of our document security business by combining basic print
capabilities necessary for research and development with the knowledge and
expertise of our team of printing professionals and a foundation of patented
technologies and trade secrets from which to launch our product
offerings. Since this early stage, we have focused our efforts on
developing and in some cases patenting new technologies and products, building
our corporate, operational, marketing and sales staff to accommodate our
expected growth, and developing and implementing our patent and intellectual
property protection strategy.
In
2006, we acquired San Francisco-based Plastic Printing Professionals, Inc.
(“P3”), a privately held security printer specializing in plastic cards
containing state of the art multiple or singular security
technologies. P3’s primary focus is manufacturing long-life
composite, laminated and surface printed cards which can include magnetic
stripes, bar codes, holograms, signature panels, invisible ink, micro fine
printing, guilloche patterns, Biometric, RFID and a patent-pending watermark
technology. P3’s products are marketed through an extensive broker network that
covers much of North America, Europe and South America. P3’s product
and client list includes the Grammy Awards, the Country Music Association
awards, sporting event media cards, ID cards for major airports and Latin
American and African driver’s licenses. Our acquisition of P3 marked
the initial execution of our strategy to expand our manufacturing capabilities
through acquisitions in order to expand our custom security printing
business. In addition, the plastic products of P3 marked the first
time that we were able to apply our technologies to a medium other than
paper. During 2007, we sold our retail copying and quick-printing
business as this operation no longer supported our core industry
focus.
In
December 2008, we acquired substantially all of the assets of DPI of Rochester,
LLC, a privately held commercial printer located in Rochester, NY with
approximately $7.6 million in sales in 2007. We formed a new
subsidiary called DPI Secuprint, Inc. to house this new
company. As a result of this acquisition, we have significantly
improved our ability to meet our current and expected future demand of our
security paper products as well as improving our sales cycle and competitiveness
in the market for custom security printing, especially in the areas of vital
records, coupons, transcripts, and prescription paper. In
addition, as a result of the acquisition, we believe we can offer our customers
a wider range of commercial printing offerings.
We
generated revenue from continuing operations of $6.6 million in 2008, which
equaled a 11% increase compared to 2007. The increase was primarily due to
increases in royalty revenue from the licensing of the Company’s technology, and
from increases in sales of security and commercial
printing.. Specifically, during 2008, the Company saw increased
demand for its safety paper, especially in the first half of 2008 due in part to
new legislation that required hospitals, physicians and pharmacies to use
tamperproof paper to fill all Medicaid prescriptions. Initially, the
requirement, which was part 7002(b) of the “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’
Care, Katrina Recovery and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007” was
to become effective on October 1, 2007, but a six-month grace period pushed the
deadline to April 1, 2008. The Company, primarily through its
customer Boise Cascade, saw an increase in demand to meet the initial October 1,
2007 deadline, which positively impacted the Company’s revenue during the first
half of 2008. In addition, we experienced increased sales of
our plastic printed products which was helped by the investments we made during
the latter half of 2007 and early 2008 that expanded the production capacity of
our plastics group. Through the first three quarters of
2008, our combined revenue growth was 23%. However, during the fourth
quarter of 2008, sales of all our products experienced declines that dampened
our full year results, which we believe reflected the impact of the significant
downturn in the overall world economic climate that occurred during that
period.
4
During
2008, gross profit from continuing operations increased by 16%, a greater pace
than the 11% increase in revenue because a large portion of the increased
revenue during 2008 was from royalty revenue, the Company’s highest margin
product category. Operating expenses from continuing
operations for 2008 were $10.6 million compared with $10.1 million in 2007, an
increase of 5%. A significant portion of our operating expenses (44%
in 2008, 32% in 2007) are comprised of depreciation and amortization, stock
based compensation, and asset impairment costs. During 2008, we
initiated efforts to reduce our costs structure, and significantly reduced
certain sales and marketing costs, consulting and professional fees, which as a
group decreased by 14% during 2008. In addition, we spent approximately 6.5%
(7.0% - 2007) of our revenue on research and development costs. These costs
savings were offset by increases in non-cash operating expenses of stock based
compensation, intangibles amortization, and impairments of intangible assets,
which as a group increased 35%.
We
recorded a net loss during 2008 of $8.3 million, or $0.59 per basic and diluted
share, compared with a net loss of $7.0 million in 2007 or $0.51 per basic and
diluted share.
Our
Core Products, Technology and Services
Our core business is counterfeit
prevention, brand protection and validation of authentic print media, including
government-issued documents, currency, private corporate records, securities and
more. We are a leader in the research and development of optical
deterrent technologies and have commercialized these technologies with a suite
of products that offer our customers an array of document security
solutions. We provide document security technology to security
printers, corporations and governments worldwide and for currency,
identifications, certifications, travel documents, prescription and medical
forms, consumer product and pharmaceutical packaging, and school
transcripts.
Our
products can be delivered on paper, plastic, or digitally via our
AuthentiGuard® DX
product suite. We believe that our continued efforts in the field of
digital security and technology greatly expands the reach and potential market
for our AuthentiGuard® DX
digital products and enterprise solutions. We believe that our
AuthentiGuard® DX
solution significantly changes the economics of document security for many
customers as it eliminates the requirement to utilize pre-printed forms while
allowing customers to leverage existing investments in their information
technology infrastructure.
Technologies
We have developed or acquired over 30
technologies that provide to our customers a wide spectrum of solutions. Our
primary anti-counterfeiting products and technologies are marketed under the
following trade names:
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AuthentiGuard™ DX is a
networked appliance that allows the author of any Microsoft Office
document (Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) to secure nearly any of its
alphanumeric content when it is printed or digitally stored.
AuthentiGuard® DX prints selected content using DMC’S patented technology
so that it cannot be read by the naked eye. Reading the hidden content, or
authenticating the document is performed with a proprietary viewing device
or software.
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Like
AuthentiGuard™ DX - AuthentiGuard™ Demand™ is a
customized software or a web-based application that incorporates the
verification feature of AuthentiGuard® Prism™
and the anti-copy anti-scan features of AuthentiGuard®
Pantograph 4000™ in a manner that makes those technologies printable from
desktop printers and digital presses worldwide. On-Demand™ provides
the ability to produce highly secure documents virtually “any-time, anywhere”,
and is highly effective in variable data applications.
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AuthentiGuard®
Laser Moiré™,
a counterfeit
deterrent technology,
prevents counterfeit reproductions by creating gross distortions and
unmistakable moiré interference patterns throughout the
image. Verification of original documents or images is fast and
easy with The Authenticator – our proprietary lens that reveals the moiré
pattern. The technology is embedded into an image that requires
protection from duplication and theft, such as photographs, portraits,
currency, driver’s licenses, postage stamps, tickets, labels, brand
packaging, or documents.
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AuthentiGuard®
Prism™, a
verification technology, embeds hidden words, images, or logos using
2-color or 4-color processes that are only visible using a special,
non-public proprietary Prism™ lens that reveals hidden Prism™
images. We believe that the hidden words, images or logos
embedding with the Prism™ technology cannot be reproduced with even the
most sophisticated digital copiers or scanners. As a result,
the absence of the hidden words, images or logos alerts the end-user that
the document is counterfeit. The PrismTM
technology protects verification forms such as spare parts, packing slips,
checks, currency, licenses, travelers’ checks, postage stamps, legal
documents, tickets, labels, and brand
packaging.
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5
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AuthentiGuard® Pantograph 4000™,
a counterfeit
deterrent technology,
provides what we believe is the most powerful, patented pantograph
technology ever created. Hidden words such as “VOID” or “COPY”,
company logos, or designs appear when a document utilizing the technology
is photocopied or scanned, preventing unauthorized
duplication. Although there are other versions of this
technology being sold by competitors, we believe that no version other
then our Pantograph 4000™ defeats high and low resolution scanners and
produces crisp clear and readable warning words. We believe
that virtually any printable surface can utilize the technology, including
paper, Teslin, PVC, Tyvek and cardboard packaging. This
technology has been used for gift certificates, school transcripts,
coupons, tickets, checks, packing slips, receipts, schematic drawings,
plans, music, scripts, training manuals, business plans, internal memos,
letterhead, legal forms and prescription
pads.
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AuthentiGuard®
Phantom™, a
verification technology, uses “tilt-to-reveal” hidden images or words that
can be easily viewed without special equipment. Viewed straight
on, the hidden images are virtually invisible to the naked eye, but when
the package or document is viewed at an angle, the hidden images are
clearly revealed. For added security, we believe that our patented
Phantom™ technology cannot be reproduced with even the best copiers or
scanners.
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AuthentiGuard®
VeriGlow™,
a verification technology, is a two-tiered, customized document
security system that utilizes unique photosensitive inks and incorporates
embedded hidden messages or images that are only viewable with a special
light source and our special non-public proprietary Veri-Glow reading
device. This patent pending technology can be applied during
the printing process or it can be applied to pre-printed items and is
useful in the protection of vital records such as passports, documents,
brand protection, packaging and
currency.
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AuthentiGuard® Survivor 21™, a counterfeit
deterrent technology,
protects printed checks from duplication via digital copiers and scanners
while providing a patent-pending security feature that survives the
background dropout that results from bank’s archival
scan. Survivor 21™ was created to meet new government banking
regulations that require documents to be archive-scan friendly, without
compromising security.
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AuthentiGuard® Obscurascan™, a counterfeit
deterrent technology,
sometimes called “Color Separation Multiplier”, protects against the
counterfeiting of any process color document, package, image or
label. A hidden technology is embedded into the document that
severely alters images so that printing plates or digital color
separations for the four-color process are distorted by substantially
increasing the density of the primary colors - making it nearly impossible
to recreate a useable color image. When a counterfeit is
attempted on a document using this technology, the output is a muddy, dark
unusable blend of colors. This technology also produces
chattering wavy lines, causing additional distortion of the
image.
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AuthentiGuard® Block-Out™, a counterfeit
deterrent technology, also
called the “anti-color reproduction system”, makes it very difficult to
reproduce protected documents on digital color copiers. Certain
copiers recognize Block-Out’s embedded graphics on the original document,
and print out solid black sheets or highly distorted
images. Block-Out™ is our own unique proprietary graphic design
that is recognized and triggers a mechanism developed by Omron Corporation
in some copiers. We developed it to prevent color copiers and photo
processors from replicating any image or document that contains our custom
Block-Out™ graphics. This technology can be integrated into
highly sensitive government documents such as currency, car titles,
passports and licenses as well as checks, travelers’ checks, postage
stamps, photographs, original art and brand
packaging.
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AuthentiGuard® MicroPerf™, a
verification technology,
creates a verifier mark that is invisible to the naked eye when
viewed under normal circumstances and unnoticeable to the touch, but can
be viewed by simply holding the document up to a normal light for fast and
easy authentication. MicroPerf™ uses a laser to insert fine
perforations into the document, and can be placed on vital records,
documents, packaging or currency and is a micro-sized perforation in the
shape of a word or image that cannot be removed or altered in any
way.
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6
Products
and Services
Generic Security
Paper: Our primary product for the retail end-user market is
AuthentiGuard® Security
Paper. AuthentiGuard® Security
Paper is blank paper that contains our Pantograph 4000TM
technology. The paper reveals hidden warning words, logos or images
using The Authenticator- our proprietary viewing lens – or when the paper is
faxed, copied or scanned. The hidden words appear on the duplicate or
the computer digital file and essentially prevent documents, including forms,
coupons and tickets, from being counterfeited. We market and sell our
AuthentiGuard® Security
Paper primarily through one major paper distributors: Boise. Since
2005, Boise has marketed our AuthentiGuard® Security
Paper under its Boise Beware brand name in North America, primarily through its
commercial paper sales group. We retain the rights to sell the
AuthentiGuard® Security
Paper directly to end-users anywhere in the world.
Secruity and non-security
printing: Our technology portfolio allows us to create unique
custom secure paper, plastic, packaging and Internet-based and software
enterprise solutions. We market and sell to end-users that require
anti-counterfeiting and authentication features in a wide range of printed
materials such as documents, vital records, prescription paper, driver’s
licenses, birth certificates, receipts, manuals, identification materials,
entertainment tickets, coupons, parts tracking forms, as well as product
packaging including pharmaceutical and a wide range of consumer
goods. In addition, we provide a full range of digital and
large offset commercial printing capabilities to our customers.
Since our
inception, we have primarily outsourced the production of the majority of our
custom security print orders to strategic printing vendors. In
December 2008, we acquired a commercial printer with long-run offset and short
run digital printing capabilities that will allow us to produce the majority of
our security print orders in-house. We produce our
plastic printed documents such as ID cards, event badges, and driver licenses at
our manufacturing facility in Brisbane, California under the name Plastic
Printing Professionals. In late 2007, we moved our P3 manufacturing facility to
a 25,000 square foot facility in order to increase our plastic manufacturing
capacity, and during 2008, we upgraded their production capabilities by adding
equipment that will improve its productivity, along with equipment for high
speed data encoding and equipment that for productions of high-volume precision
RFID cards. .
Digital Security
Solutions:
Using software that we have developed, we can electronically render several of
our technologies digitally to extend the use of optical security to the end-user
of sensitive information. With our AuthentiGuard™ DX we
market a networked appliance that allows the author of any Microsoft Office
document (Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) to secure nearly any of its
alphanumeric content when it is printed or digitally stored. AuthentiGuard® DX
prints selected content using DMC’S patented technology so that it cannot be
read by the naked eye. Reading the hidden content, or authenticating the
document is performed with a proprietary viewing device or software
Technology
Licensing: We license our anti-counterfeiting technology and
trade secrets to security printers through licensing arrangements. We
seek licensees that have a broad customer base that can benefit from our
technologies or have unique and strategic capabilities that expand the
capabilities that we can offer our potential customers Licenses can be for a
single technology or for a package of technologies. We offer
licensees a variety of pricing models, including:
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Pay
us one price per year;
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Pay
us a percentage of gross sales price of the product containing the
technology during the term; or
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Joint
venture or profit sharing
arrangement.
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Legal Products: We
also own and operate Legalstore.com, an Internet company which sells legal
supplies and documents, including security paper and products for the users of
legal documents and supplies in the legal, medical and educational
fields.
Intellectual
Property
Patents
Our
ability to compete effectively depends in part on our ability to maintain the
proprietary nature of our technology, products and manufacturing processes. We
principally rely upon patent, trademark, trade secrets and contract law to
establish and protect our proprietary rights. During our development, we have
expended a significant percentage of our resources on the research and
development to ensure that we are a market leader the ability to provide our
customers effective solutions against a never changing array of counterfeit
risks.
7
Based
largely on these efforts, we currently own eight patents and have over a dozen
patent applications pending, including provisional and PCT patent applications
and applications that have entered the National Phase in various countries
including the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Israel, Mexico,
Indonesia and South Africa. These applications cover our technologies, including
our AuthentiGuard®
On-Demand, AuthentiGuard® Prism™
AuthentiGuard®
ObscuraScan™, AuthentiGuard® Survivor
21™, AuthentiGuard®
VeriGlow™ products, and several other anti-counterfeiting and authentication
technologies in development.
We also
jointly have the rights to Patent No. 5,707,083 with R.R. Donnelly. Under the
terms of our agreement with R.R. Donnelly, it has no rights in any revenue
generated by us through the technology represented by the patent. R.R. Donnelly
may license the technology but is required to split any revenue with us after
costs associated with any licensing.
In
addition to our current patent activities, we own several patents that we
acquired in 2002 when we acquired companies owned by various members of the
Wicker Family and The Estate of Ralph Wicker, including US Patents 5,018,767,
European Patent 0455750, Canadian Patent 2,045,580, and a 50% ownership of US
Patent No 5,735,547 (collectively, the “Wicker Patents”). However,
due to previous contractual agreements associated with the Wicker Patents, we
did not obtain certain economic rights to these patents, including certain
economic rights to benefits derived from settlements, licenses or other
subsequent business arrangements from any person or entity that had been proven
to infringe these patents. Therefore, to consolidate our ownership
and economic rights to the Wicker Patents, we entered into the following
transactions. In 2004, we entered into an agreement with The Estate
of Ralph Wicker and its assigns to purchase from them the right to 70% of the
future economic benefit derived from settlements, licenses or subsequent
business arrangements from any infringer of the Wicker Patents that we choose to
pursue, with The Estate of Ralph Wicker receiving the remaining 30% of such
economic benefit.
In
February 2005, we further consolidated our ownership of the Wicker Patents by
purchasing the economic interests and ownership from 45 persons and entities
that had purchased various rights in Wicker Family technologies, including the
Wicker Patents. As a result of this transaction, we increased our
ownership of US Patent 5,735,547 to 100%, and increased to our right to future
economic benefits to the Wicker Patents to approximately 86% of all settlements
or license royalties derived from, among other things, infringement suits
related to the foreign Wicker Patents, including European Patent
0455750. Pursuant to these transactions, we issued an aggregate of
541,460 shares to of our Common Stock, valued at approximately $3.9
million.
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC (“Trebuchet”) under which Trebuchet has agreed to pay
substantially all of the litigation costs associated with pending validity
proceedings initiated by the European Central Bank (“ECB”) in eight European
countries relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the
Company has claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euro
currency (the “Patent”). Trebuchet also agreed to pay substantially all of the
litigation costs associated with future validity challenges filed by the ECB or
other parties, provided that Trebuchet elects to assume the defense of any such
challenges, in its sole discretion, and patent infringement suits filed against
the ECB and certain other alleged infringers of the Patent, all of which suits
may be brought at the sole discretion of Trebuchet and may be in the name of the
Company, Trebuchet or both. The Company provided Trebuchet with the sole and
exclusive right to manage infringement litigation relating to the Patent in
Europe, including the right to initiate litigation in the name of the Company,
Trebuchet or both and to choose whom and where to sue, subject to certain
limitations set forth in the agreement. Under the terms of the Agreement, the
Company and Trebuchet have agreed to equally share all proceeds generated from
litigation relating to the Patent, including judgments and licenses or other
arrangements entered into in settlement of any such litigation. Trebuchet is
also entitled to recoup any litigation expenses specifically awarded to the
Company in such actions.
By
aggressively defending our intellectual property rights, we believe that we may
be able to secure a potentially significant amount of additional and ongoing
revenue by securing proceeds from lawsuits, settlements, or licensing agreements
with those persons, companies or governments that we believe are infringing our
patents. We intend to use the appropriate legal means that are
economically feasible to protect our ownership of these technologies. We cannot
be assured, however, that our efforts to prevent the misappropriation of the
intellectual property used in our business will be successful, or that we will
be successful in obtaining monetary proceeds from entities that we believe are
infringing our patents. Further, we cannot be assured that any
patents will be issued for our U.S. or foreign applications or that, if issued,
they will provide protection against competitive technologies or will be held
valid and enforceable if challenged. We also cannot be assured that
competitors would not be able to design around any such proprietary right or
obtain rights that we would need to license or design around in order to
practice under these patents.
8
Trademarks
We have
registered our “AuthentiGuard” mark, as well as our “Survivor 21” electronic
check icon with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A trademark
application is pending in Canada for “AuthentiGuard.” AuthentiGuard® is
registered in several European countries including the United
Kingdom.
Research
and Development
During
the fiscal years ended December 31 2008 and 2007, we spent $432,550 and $420,063
on research and development activities, respectively.
Major
Customers
During
2008, two customers accounted for 11% and 10% of the Company’s total revenue
from continuing operations, respectively. As of December 31, 2008,
one customer account receivable balance that was acquired as part of the
Company’s acquisition of the assets of a commercial printer in December 2008,
accounted for 42% of the Company’s trade accounts receivable
balance. During 2007, one customer accounted for 13% of the
Company’s total revenue from continuing operations. As of December
31, 2007, one customer accounted for 16% of the Company’s trade accounts
receivable balance.
Websites
We
maintain the website, www.documentsecurity.com, which describes our patented
document security solutions, our targeted vertical markets, company history, and
offers our security consulting services. We also maintain
www.plasticprintingprofessionals.com, which describes our ID card and other
plastic and vinyl printing services. In addition, we maintain the websites
www.safetypaper.com and www.protectedpaper.com, which are e-commerce sites that
market and sell our patented blank Security Paper, hand-held security verifiers
and custom security documents to end users worldwide. We also utilize
www.authenticate-360.com, a website which is hosted and owned by our licensee,
The Ergonomic Group; this website is a source for counterfeiting information and
promotion of our On-Demand™ products. We also own and operate Legalstore.com, an
Internet company which sells legal supplies and documents, including security
paper and products for the users of legal documents and supplies in the legal,
medical and educational fields. In addition, in December 2008, we
acquired substantially all of the assets of DPI of Rochester, a commercial
printer which maintains the website www.dpirochester.com,
which describes its pre-press and production capabilities.
Competition
Currently,
the security print market is comprised of a few very large companies and an
increasing number of small companies with specific technology
niches. The expansion of this market is the result of increasing
requirements for national security, as well as the proliferation of brand and
identity theft. Counterfeiting has expanded significantly as
advancing technologies in digital duplication and scanning combined with
increasingly sophisticated design software has enabled easier reproduction of
originals.
Our
industry is highly fragmented and characterized by rapid technological change
and product innovations and evolving standards. We feel a
consolidation of the industry may transpire in the near future as larger, well
financed companies acquire smaller technology companies to position themselves
in the industry and access their intellectual property and access to client
lists. Many of our current competitors have longer operating
histories, more established products, greater name recognition, larger customer
bases, and greater financial, technical and marketing resources. As a
result, our competitors may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging
technologies and changes in customer requirements, and devote greater resources
to the promotion and sale of their products. Competition may also
force us to decrease the price of our products and services. There is
no assurance that we will be successful in developing and introducing new
technology on a timely basis, new products with enhanced features, or that these
products, if introduced, will enable us to establish selling prices and gross
margins at profitable levels.
Although
our technology is effective primarily on analog and digital copiers and
scanners, our competition covers a wide array of document security and
anti-counterfeiting solutions. We conduct research and development to
improve our technology, including the development of new patents and trade
secrets. We will rely primarily upon our patents and trade secrets to attempt to
thwart competition, although there can be no assurance that we will be
successful.
Our
competitors include Standard Register Company, which specializes in printing
security technologies for the check and forms and medical industries; De La Rue
Plc, that specializes in printing secure currency, tickets, labels, lottery
tickets and vital records for governments and Fortune 500 companies; Xerox, an
industry leader in copying and scanning that has made recent entries into the
anti-counterfeiting business and has a competing Safety Paper product called “X
Void.” Our P3 ID card manufacturing operation competes
with Arthur Blank and Company, Inc. which supplies advanced ID
technology to the U.S. federal government and other government programs
worldwide, with a range of products and solutions that includes secure ID
technologies.
9
In
addition, other competing hidden word technologies are being marketed by
competitors such as Nocopi Technologies which sells and markets secure paper
products, and Graphic Security Systems Corporation, which markets scrambled
indicia.
Digital
watermarks, RFID and biometric technologies are also being introduced into the
marketplace by Digimarc Corporation, IBM and L-1 Identity
Solutions. These digital protection systems require software and
hardware such as scanners and computers to implement and utilize the technology
and, consequently, this technology must be utilized in a controlled environment
with the necessary equipment to create the verification
process. Therefore, versions of our optical security technologies do
not require hardware and software to operate and therefore, provide a power
outage fail-safe when combined or layered with RFID, digital watermarks or
biometric systems.
Large Office Equipment Manufacturers,
called OEMs, such as Sharp, Canon, Ricoh, Hewlett Packard and Eastman Kodak are
developing “smart copier” technology that recognizes particular graphical images
and produces warning words or distorted copies. Some of the OEMs are
also developing user assigned and variable pantograph “hidden word” technologies
in which users can assign a particular hidden work in copy, such as “void” that
is displayed when copy of such document is made.
Optical Deterrent features such as ours
are utilized mainly by the large worldwide security printers for the protection
of currency. Many of these features such as micro-printing were
developed pre-1980 as they were designed to be effective on the imaging devices
of the day which were mainly photography mechanisms. With the advent
of modern day scanners, digital copiers, digital cameras and easy to use imaging
software such as Adobe Photoshop many of the pre-1980 optical deterrents such as
micro-printing are no longer or much less effective in the prevention of
counterfeiting.
Unlike some of our competitors, our
technologies are developed to defeat today’s modern imaging
systems. Almost all of our products and processes are built to thwart
scanners and digital copiers and we believe that our products are the most
effective in doing so in the market today. In addition, our
technologies do not require expensive hardware or software add-ons to
authenticate a document, but instead require simple, inexpensive hand-held
readers which can be calibrated to particular hidden design
features. Our technologies are literally ink on paper that is printed
with a particular method to hide selected things from a scanner’s “eye” or
distort what a scanner “sees.” These attributes make our
anti-scanning technologies very cost effective versus other current offerings on
the market since our technologies are imbedded during the normal printing
process, thereby significantly reducing the costs to implement the
technologies.
In
December 2008, we acquired the assets of a commercial printer. The
general commercial printing segment generates in the U.S. over $50 billion
in annual sales based on available industry data. The general
commercial printing industry in the U.S. is highly fragmented and most customers
procure print services from local sources. Therefore, we compete primarily with
locally-based printing companies in the Rochester and Western New York
markets. Most of our competitors are privately-held, single location
operations; however, some competitors are large corporations, both publicly and
privately owned.
In
general, changes in prevailing U.S. economic conditions significantly impact the
general commercial printing industry (approximately 96% of our fiscal 2008
revenues were U.S.-based). To the extent weakness in the U.S. economy causes
local and national corporations to reduce their spending on advertising and
marketing materials, the demand for commercial printing services may be
adversely affected.
10
Segment
Information
We
operate through two segments:
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Security and
commercial printing. This segment
consists of the license, manufacture and sale of
document security technologies, including digital security print solutions
and secure printed products at Document Security Systems and P3 divisions,
along with commercial printing provided by P3 and DPI Secuprint, our newly
acquired commercial print operation In September 2007, we sold
the assets of our retail printing and copying division, a former component
of the Document Security and Production segment, to an unrelated third
party as this operation was not critical to our core
operations. The results of this division are reported as
discontinued operations and are not a component of this segment’s
results.
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·
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Legal
Supplies. This segment
consists of the sale
of specialty legal supplies, primarily to lawyers and law firms located
throughout the United States, via the Legalstore.com
website.
|
Financial
information regarding these segments is provided in Note 15 to our consolidated
financial statements included in this Annual Report on
Form 10-K.
Employees
As of
December 31, 2008, we had 85 full and part-time employees, which includes 39
employees from our newly acquired company DPI Secuprint. It is
important that we continue to retain and attract qualified management and
technical personnel. Our employees are not covered by any collective
bargaining agreement, and we believe that our relations with our employees are
good.
Government
Regulation
In light
of the events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent war on terrorism,
governments, private entities and individuals have become more aware of, and
concerned with, the problems related with counterfeit documents. Homeland
Security remains a high priority in the United States. This new heightened
awareness may result in new laws or regulations which could impact our business.
We believe, however, that any such laws or regulations would be aimed at
requiring or promoting anti-counterfeiting, and therefore would likely have a
positive impact on our business plans.
Document
Security Systems plays an active role with the Document Security Alliance group,
as it sits on various committees and has been involved in design recommendations
for important U.S. documents. This group of security industry
specialists was formed by the U.S. Secret Service to evaluate and recommend
security solutions to the Federal government for the protection of credentials
and vital records.
As
counterfeiting continues to increase worldwide, various new laws and mandates
are occurring to address the growing security problem which we believe will
increase our ability to generate revenue. For example, in 2007
Federal legislation was enacted that required hospitals, physicians and
pharmacies to use tamperproof paper to fill all Medicaid
prescriptions. Initially, the requirement, which was part 7002(b) of
the “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery and Iraq
Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007”, was effective April 1,
2008. Since the effective date of this legislation, we realized
an increase in the sales of our AuthentiGuard® Security
Paper used for Medicaid prescription paper.
ITEM
1A – RISK FACTORS
An
investment in our securities is subject to numerous risks, including the Risk
Factors described below. Our business, operating results or financial condition
could be materially adversely affected by any of the following
risks. The risks described below are not the only ones we face.
Additional risks we are not presently aware of or that we currently believe are
immaterial may also materially affect our business. The trading price of our
Common Stock could decline due to any of these risks. In assessing these risks,
you should also refer to the other information contained or incorporated by
reference in this Form 10-K, including our financial statements and related
notes, competition and intellectual property.
We
have a limited operating history with our business model, which limits the
information available to you to evaluate our business.
Since our
inception in 1984, we have accumulated deficits from historical operations of
approximately $32,500,000 at December 31, 2008. In 2002, we changed
our business model and chose to strategically focus on becoming a developer and
marketer of secure technologies for all forms of print media. We have
continued to incur losses since we began our new business model. Also, we have
limited operating and financial information relating to this new business to
evaluate our performance and future prospects. Due to the change in our business
model, we do not view our historical financials as being a good indication of
our future. We face the risks and difficulties of a company going into a new
business including the uncertainties of market acceptance, competition, cost
increases and delays in achieving business objectives. There can be no assurance
that we will succeed in addressing any or all of these risks, and the failure to
do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition
and operating results.
11
We
have three secured credit facilities that have large principal payments due in
December 2009 and January 2010, and if we are unable to repay them with cash we
may be forced to repay, in whole or in part, with each credit facility's
applicable collateral, which would have a material adverse effect on our
financial position.
On January 4, 2008, we entered into two
credit facilities with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $3.6 million that is
repayable in full on January 4, 2010. One of these credit facilities has a
borrowing limit of $3.0 million and is secured by our stock in our Plastic
Printing Professionals, Inc. subsidiary, and the other credit facility has a
borrowing limit of $600,000 and is secured by our accounts receivable, excluding
the accounts receivable of our subsidiary Plastic Printing Professionals, Inc.
As of December 31, 2008, we were in default of both agreements due to a failure
to pay interest when due. Both Fagenson & Co., Inc. and Patrick White have
agreed to waive the defaults through January 1, 2010.
On
December 18, 2008, our wholly owned subsidiary, Secuprint, Inc., (dba DPI
Secuprint, Inc.) entered a secured loan of up to $900,000 to pay for most of the
cash portion of the purchase price of our acquisition of the assets of DPI of
Rochester, LLC. The loan is due in December 2009 and is secured by
all of the assets of DPI Secuprint.
If we
cannot generate sufficient cash from operations or raise cash from other
sources, including without limitation, fund-raising through sales of equity, and
if we cannot refinance the credit facilities, we may have to repay, in whole or
in part, one or all of the credit facilities with each credit facility's
applicable collateral, which would have a material adverse effect on our
financial position.
Due
to our low cash balance and limited financing currently available to us, we may
in the near future have a number of obligations that we will be unable to meet
without generating additional income or raising additional
capital. If we cannot generate additional income or raise additional
capital in the near future, we may become insolvent, fail to obtain appropriate
relief from bankruptcy, be made bankrupt and/or our stock may become illiquid or
worthless.
As of
December 31, 2008, our cash balance was approximately $88,000, and our current
liabilities totaled approximately $3,486,000. In addition, we have long
term debt of $2.5 million. If we a reach a point where we need
additional funding and do not receive sufficient financing or sufficient funds
from our operations we may (i) liquidate assets, (ii) seek or be
forced into bankruptcy and/or obtain appropriate relief from bankruptcy and/or,
(iii) continue operations, but incur material harm to our
business, operations or financial condition. These measures could
have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going
concern. Additionally, because of our financial condition, our Board
of Directors has a duty to our creditors that may conflict with the interests of
our stockholders. Our Board of Directors may be required to make
decisions that favor the interests of creditors at the expense of our
stockholders to fulfill its fiduciary duty. For instance, we may be
required to preserve our assets to maximize the repayment of debts versus
employing the assets to further grow our business and increase shareholder
value. If we cannot generate enough income from our operations or are
unable to locate additional funds through financing, we may not have sufficient
resources to continue operations.
Due
to our low cash balance and negative cash flow, we may have to further reduce
our costs by curtailing future operations to continue as a
business.
We have
incurred significant net losses in previous years. Our ability to
fund our capital requirements out of our available cash and cash generated from
our operations depends on a number of factors. Some of these factors include our
ability to (i) increase paper and plastic card sales and (ii) increase sales of
our digital products. While we have approximately $700,000 as of March 31, 2009,
of funds available to us under our various credit facilities, we may need to
raise additional funds in the future in order to fund our working capital
needs. These
measures could include selling or consolidating certain operations or assets,
and delaying, canceling or scaling back product development and marketing
programs. These measures could materially and adversely affect our ability to
operate profitably.
Our
ability to effect a financing transaction to fund our operations could adversely
affect the value of your stock.
If we
seek additional financing through raising additional capital through public or
private equity offerings or debt financing, such additional capital financing
may not be available to us on favorable terms and our stockholders will likely
experience substantial dilution. Material shortage of capital will
require us to take steps such as reducing our level of operations, disposing of
selected assets, effecting financings on less than favorable terms or seeking
protection under federal bankruptcy laws.
Our
limited cash resources may not be sufficient to fund continuing losses from
operations and the expenses of the current patent validity and patent
infringement litigations.
The cost
to defend current and future litigation may be significant. We cannot
assure you that the ultimate cost of current known or future unknown litigation
and claims will not exceed our current expectations and/or our ability to pay
such costs and it is possible that such litigation costs could have a material
adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating
results. In addition, litigation is time consuming and could divert
management attention and resources away from our business, which could adversely
affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
12
If
we lose our current litigation, we may lose certain of our technology rights,
which may affect our business plan.
We are
subject to litigation and alleged litigation, including without limitation our
litigation with the European Central Bank, in which parties allege, among other
things, that certain of our patents are invalid. For more information
regarding this litigation, see Item 3- Legal Proceedings. If the ECB
or other parties are successful in invalidating any or all of our patents, it
may materially affect us, our financial condition, and our ability to market and
sell certain of our products based on any patent that is
invalidated. Furthermore, we have granted nearly all control
over our ECB Litigation to a third party, Trebuchet Capital Partners, LLC., who
may or may not have the resources or capabilities to successfully defend our
patent rights.
If
we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property, our competitive
advantage may disappear.
Our
success will be determined in part by our ability to obtain United States and
foreign patent protection for our technology and to preserve our trade secrets.
Because of the substantial length of time and expense associated with developing
new document security technology, we place considerable importance on patent and
trade secret protection. We intend to continue to rely primarily on a
combination of patent protection, trade secrets, technical measures, copyright
protection and nondisclosure agreements with our employees and customers to
establish and protect the ideas, concepts and documentation of software and
trade secrets developed by us. Our ability to compete and the ability
of our business to grow could suffer if these intellectual property rights are
not adequately protected. There can be no assurance that our patent
applications will result in patents being issued or that current or additional
patents will afford protection against competitors. We rely on a
combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret protection and
contractual rights to establish and protect our intellectual
property. Failure of our patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade
secret protection, non-disclosure agreements and other measures to provide
protection of our technology and our intellectual property rights could enable
our competitors to more effectively compete with us and have an adverse effect
on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In
addition, our trade secrets and proprietary know-how may otherwise become known
or be independently discovered by others. No guarantee can be given that others
will not independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information
or techniques, or otherwise gain access to our proprietary
technology.
In
addition, we may be required to litigate in the future to enforce our
intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the
validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against
claims of infringement or invalidity. Any such litigation could result in
substantial costs and diversion of resources and could have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, and there
can be no assurances of the success of any such litigation.
We
may face intellectual property infringement or other claims against us, our
customers or our intellectual property that could be costly to defend and result
in our loss of significant rights.
Although
we have received U.S. Patents and a European Patent with respect to certain
technologies of ours, there can be no assurance that these patents will afford
us any meaningful protection. Although we believe that our use of the
technology and products we developed and other trade secrets used in our
operations do not infringe upon the rights of others, our use of the technology
and trade secrets we developed may infringe upon the patents or intellectual
property rights of others. In the event of infringement, we could, under certain
circumstances, be required to obtain a license or modify aspects of the
technology and trade secrets we developed or refrain from using
same. We may not have the necessary financial resources to defend an
infringement claim made against us or be able to successfully terminate any
infringement in a timely manner, upon acceptable terms and conditions or at all.
Failure to do any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on us
and our financial condition. Moreover, if the patents, technology or
trade secrets we developed or use in our business are deemed to infringe upon
the rights of others, we could, under certain circumstances, become liable for
damages, which could have a material adverse effect on us and our financial
condition. As we continue to market our products, we could encounter
patent barriers that are not known today. A patent search will not disclose
applications that are currently pending in the United States Patent Office, and
there may be one or more such pending applications that would take precedence
over any or all of our applications.
13
Furthermore,
third parties may assert that our intellectual property rights are invalid,
which could result in significant expenditures by us to refute such
assertions. If we become involved in litigation, we could lose our
proprietary rights, be subject to damages and incur substantial unexpected
operating expenses. Intellectual property litigation is expensive and
time-consuming, even if the claims are subsequently proven unfounded, and could
divert management’s attention from our business. If there is a successful claim
of infringement, we may not be able to develop non-infringing technology or
enter into royalty or license agreements on acceptable terms, if at
all. If we are unsuccessful in defending claims that our intellectual
property rights are invalid, we may not be able to enter into royalty or license
agreements on acceptable terms, if at all. This could prohibit us
from providing our products and services to customers, which could have a
material adverse effect on us and our financial condition.
If
our products and services do not achieve market acceptance, we may not achieve
our revenue and net income goals in the time prescribed or at all.
We are at
the early stage of introducing our document security technology and products to
the market. If we are unable to operate our business as contemplated by our
business model or if the assumptions underlying our business model prove to be
unfounded, we could fail to achieve our revenue and net income goals within the
time we have projected, or at all, which could have a material adverse effect on
our business. As a result, the value of your investment could be significantly
reduced or completely lost.
We cannot
assure you that a sufficient number of such companies will demand our products
or services or other document security products. In addition, we cannot predict
the rate of market’s acceptance of our document security solutions. Failure to
maintain a significant customer base may have a material adverse effect on our
business.
Certain
of our recently developed products are not yet commercially accepted and there
can be no assurance that those products will be accepted, which would adversely
affect our financial results.
Over the
past one to two years, we have spent significant funds and time to create new
products by applying our technologies onto media other than paper, including
plastic and cardboard packaging, and delivered our technologies
digitally. We have had limited success in selling our products that
are on cardboard packaging and those that are delivered
digitally. Our business plan for 2009 and beyond includes plans to
incur significant marketing and sales costs for these newer products,
particularly the digitally delivered products. If we are not able to
sell these new products, our financial results will be adversely
affected.
The
results of our research and development efforts are uncertain and there can be
no assurance of the commercial success of our products.
We
believe that we will need to continue to incur research and development
expenditures to remain competitive. The products we currently are developing or
may develop in the future may not be technologically successful. In addition,
the length of our product development cycle may be greater than we originally
expect and we may experience delays in future product development. If our
resulting products are not technologically successful, they may not achieve
market acceptance or compete effectively with our competitors’
products.
Changes
in document security technology and standards could render our applications and
services obsolete.
The
market for document security products, applications, and services is fast moving
and evolving. Identification and authentication technology is constantly
changing as we and our competitors introduce new products, applications, and
services, and retire old ones as customer requirements quickly develop and
change. In addition, the standards for document security are continuing to
evolve. If any segments of our market adopt technologies or standards that are
inconsistent with our applications and technology, sales to those market
segments could decline, which could have a material adverse effect on us and our
financial condition.
The
market in which we operate is highly competitive, and we may not be able to
compete effectively, especially against established industry competitors with
greater market presence and financial resources.
Our
market is highly competitive and characterized by rapid technological change and
product innovations. Our competitors may have advantages over us because of
their longer operating histories, more established products, greater name
recognition, larger customer bases, and greater financial, technical and
marketing resources. As a result, they may be able to adapt more quickly to new
or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, and devote
greater resources to the promotion and sale of their products. Competition may
also force us to decrease the price of our products and services. We cannot
assure you that we will be successful in developing and introducing new
technology on a timely basis, new products with enhanced features, or that these
products, if introduced, will enable us to establish selling prices and gross
margins at profitable levels.
14
Our
growth strategy depends, in part, on our acquiring complementary businesses and
assets and expanding our existing operations to include manufacturing
capabilities, which we may be unable to do.
Our
growth strategy is based, in part, on our ability to acquire businesses and
assets that are complimentary to our existing operations and expanding our
operations to include manufacturing capabilities. We may also seek to acquire
other businesses. The success of this acquisition strategy will depend, in part,
on our ability to accomplish the following:
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identify
suitable businesses or assets to
buy;
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complete
the purchase of those businesses on terms acceptable to
us;
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complete
the acquisition in the time frame we expect;
and
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improve
the results of operations of the businesses that we buy and successfully
integrate their operations into our
own.
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Although
we were able to successfully acquire our Plastic Printing Professionals, Inc.
subsidiary in February 2006, there can be no assurance that we will be
successful in pursuing any or all of these steps on future transactions. Our
failure to implement our acquisition strategy could have an adverse effect on
other aspects of our business strategy and our business in general. We may not
be able to find appropriate acquisition candidates, acquire those candidates
that we find or integrate acquired businesses effectively or
profitably.
Our
acquisition program and strategy may lead us to contemplate acquisitions of
companies in bankruptcy such as our recent DPI acquisition, which entail
additional risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include,
without limitation, that, before assets may be acquired, customers may leave in
search of more stable providers and vendors may terminate key relationships.
Also, assets are generally acquired on an “as is” basis, with no recourse to the
seller if the assets are not as valuable as may be represented. Finally, while
bankrupt companies may be acquired for comparatively little money, the cost of
continuing the operations may significantly exceed expectations.
We have
in the past used, and may continue to use, our Common Stock as payment for all
or a portion of the purchase price for acquisitions. If we issue significant
amounts of our Common Stock for such acquisitions, this could result in
substantial dilution of the equity interests of our stockholders.
If
we fail to retain our key personnel and attract and retain additional qualified
personnel, we might not be able to pursue our growth strategy.
Our
future success depends upon the continued service of our executive officers and
other key sales and research personnel
who possess longstanding industry relationships and technical knowledge of our
products and operations. The loss of any of our key employees, in
particular, Patrick White, our Chief Executive Officer and David Wicker, our
Vice-President of Operations, could negatively impact our ability to pursue our
growth strategy and conduct operations. Although we believe that our
relationship with these individuals is positive, there can be no assurance that
the services of these individuals will continue to be available to us in the
future. We have extended our employment agreements with Patrick White
to June 2010. Our employment agreement with David Wicker expires in
June 2011. There can be no assurance that these persons will continue to agree
to be employed by us after such dates.
If
we do not successfully expand our sales force, we may be unable to increase our
revenues.
We must
expand the size of our marketing activities and sales force to increase
revenues. We continue to evaluate various methods of expanding our marketing
activities, including the use of outside marketing consultants and
representatives and expanding our in-house marketing capabilities. Going
forward, we anticipate an increasing percentage of our revenues to come from the
licensing of our newer technologies, where profit margins are significantly
higher than those provided by Security Paper. If we are unable to hire or retain
qualified sales personnel, if newly hired personnel fail to develop the
necessary skills to be productive, or if they reach productivity more slowly
than anticipated, our ability to increase our revenues and grow could be
compromised. The challenge of attracting, training and retaining qualified
candidates may make it difficult to meet our sales growth targets. Further, we
may not generate sufficient sales to offset the increased expense resulting from
expanding our sales force or we may be unable to manage a larger sales
force.
15
Future
growth in our business could make it difficult to manage our
resources.
Our
anticipated business expansion could place a significant strain on our
management, administrative and financial resources. Significant growth in our
business may require us to implement additional operating, product development
and financial controls, improve coordination among marketing, product
development and finance functions, increase capital expenditures and hire
additional personnel. There can be no assurance that we will be able to
successfully manage any substantial expansion of our business, including
attracting and retaining qualified personnel. Any failure to properly manage our
future growth could negatively impact our business and operating
results.
We
cannot predict our future capital needs and we may not be able to secure
additional financing.
We may
need to raise additional funds in the future to fund more aggressive expansion
of our business, complete the development, testing and marketing of our
products, or make strategic acquisitions or investments. We may require
additional equity or debt financings, collaborative arrangements with corporate
partners or funds from other sources for these purposes. No assurance can be
given that these funds will be available for us to finance our development on
acceptable terms, if at all. Such additional financings may involve substantial
dilution of our stockholders or may require that we relinquish rights to certain
of our technologies or products. In addition, we may experience operational
difficulties and delays due to working capital restrictions. If adequate funds
are not available from operations or additional sources of financing, we may
have to delay or scale back our growth plans. In June 2008, we
sold 350,000 shares for an aggregate purchase price of $1.4 million, with
$100,000 paid at closing and the remaining $1.3 million payable in six-month
installments over two years. If the Purchaser of such 350,000 does
not pay some or all of such remaining $1.3 million purchase price, we will have
limited, if any, recourse against the purchaser other than recouping a pro-rata
amount of the 350,000 shares. As of March 31, 2009, the
share subscription was not current and the Company is reviewing its options
under the agreement, which may include termination of the
agreement. While we have approximately $700,000 as March 31, 2008 of
funds available to us under our various credit facilities, we may need to raise
additional funds in the future in order to fund our working capital
needs.
Risks
Related to Our Stock
Provisions
of our certificate of incorporation and agreements could delay or prevent a
change in control of our company.
Certain
provisions of our certificate of incorporation may discourage, delay, or prevent
a merger or acquisition that a stockholder may consider favorable. These
provisions include:
|
·
|
the
authority of the Board of Directors to issue preferred stock;
and
|
|
·
|
a
prohibition on cumulative voting in the election of
directors.
|
We
have a large number of authorized but unissued shares of common stock, which our
management may issue without further stockholder approval, thereby causing
dilution of your holdings of our common stock.
As of
December 31, 2008, there were approximately 185 million shares of
authorized but unissued shares of our common stock. Our management will continue
to have broad discretion to issue shares of our common stock in a range of
transactions, including capital-raising transactions, mergers, acquisitions, for
anti-takeover purposes, and in other transactions, without obtaining stockholder
approval, unless stockholder approval is required for a particular transaction
under the rules of the NYSE Amex, New York law, or other applicable laws. We
currently have no specific plans to issue shares of our common stock for any
purpose. However, if our management determines to issue shares of our common
stock from the large pool of such authorized but unissued shares for any purpose
in the future without obtaining stockholder approval, your ownership position
would be diluted without your further ability to vote on that
transaction.
The
exercise of our outstanding options and warrants and vesting of restricted stock
awards may depress our stock price.
As of
December 31, 2008, there were outstanding stock options and warrants to purchase
an aggregate of 1,424,532 shares of our Common Stock at exercise prices ranging
from $1.60 to $12.65 per share. To the extent that these securities
are exercised, dilution to our stockholders will occur. In addition, as of
December 31, 2008, there were 327,781 restricted shares of our common stock that
are subject to various vesting terms. To the extent that these
securities vest, dilution to our stockholders will occur. Moreover,
the terms upon which we will be able to obtain additional equity capital may be
adversely affected, since the holders of these securities can be expected to
exercise or convert them at a time when we would, in all likelihood, be able to
obtain any needed capital on terms more favorable to us than the exercise and
conversion terms provided by those securities.
16
Sales of
these shares in the public market, or the perception that future sales of these
shares could occur, could have the effect of lowering the market price of our
common stock below current levels and make it more difficult for us and our
stockholders to sell our equity securities in the future.
Sale or
the availability for sale of shares of common stock by stockholders could cause
the market price of our common stock to decline and could impair our ability to
raise capital through an offering of additional equity securities.
We
do not intend to pay cash dividends.
We do not
intend to declare or pay cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable
future. We anticipate that we will retain any earnings and other cash resources
for investment in our business. The payment of dividends on our common stock is
subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our
operations, financial position, financial requirements, general business
conditions, restrictions imposed by financing arrangements, if any, legal
restrictions on the payment of dividends and other factors that our Board of
Directors deems relevant.
We
may not meet the continued listing standards of the NYSE AMEX
The
Company received notice from the NYSE Amex (formerly NYSE Alternext US) on
December 2, 2008 that based on a review of our Form 10-Q for the period ended
September 30, 2008, the Company did not meet certain of the Exchange’s continued
listing standards related to stockholders’ equity as set forth in Part 10 of the
NYSE Amex Company Guide. The Company was afforded
the opportunity to submit a plan of compliance to the Exchange and on January 9,
2009 presented its plan to the Exchange. On January 29, 2009, the Exchange
notified the Company that it accepted the Company’s plan of compliance and
granted the Company an extension until June 2, 2010 to regain compliance with
the continued listing standards and that its listing is being continued pursuant
to this extension. The Company will be subject to periodic review by Exchange
Staff during the extension period. Failure to make progress consistent with the
plan or to regain compliance with the continued listing standards by the end of
the extension period could result in the Company being delisted from the
Exchange. There is no guarantee that the Company will be able to
regain compliance to the listing standards and therefore, the Company’s common
shares may no longer be able to be traded, which could cause the market price of
our common stock to decline and could impair our ability to raise capital
through an offering of additional equity securities.
ITEM
2 - PROPERTIES
Our
administrative offices are approximately 4,700 square feet and are located in
the First Federal Plaza Building, 28 East Main Street, Rochester, New York 14614
which we occupy under a lease that will expire in 2011, Our plastic
printing division leases approximately 25,000 square feet in Brisbane, CA in a
lease that will expire in July 2014. Our Legal Supplies group rents
approximately 5,000 square feet in Rochester, NY under a leases expiring in
2010. DPI Secuprint, our commercial printing group leases an
approximately 20,000 square foot facility in Rochester, NY under a lease
expiring in 2013. We believe that our facilities are adequate
for our current operations. The Company also believes that it can negotiate
renewals or similar lease arrangements on acceptable terms when our current
leases expire.
ITEM
3 - LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
On August
1, 2005, we commenced a suit against the European Central Bank (“ECB”) alleging
patent infringement by the ECB and claimed unspecified damages. We brought the
suit in the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. We
alleged that all Euro banknotes in circulation infringe the Company European
Patent 0 455 750B1 (the “Patent”), which covers a method of incorporating an
anti-counterfeiting feature into banknotes or similar security documents to
protect against forgeries by digital scanning and copying
devices. The Court of First Instance ruled on September 5, 2007 that
it does not have jurisdiction to rule on the patent infringement claim, and also
ruled that we will be required to pay attorneys and court fees of the
ECB. The ECB formally requested the Company to pay attorneys and
court fees in the amount of Euro 93,752 ($132,000 as of December 31, 2008),
which, unless the amount is settled will be subject to an assessment procedure
that will not likely be concluded until approximately the middle of 2009, which
the Company will accrue as soon as the assessed amount, if any, is reasonably
estimatable.
17
On March 24, 2006, we received notice
that the ECB has filed a separate claim in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg
courts seeking the invalidation of the Patent. Proceedings were
commenced before the national courts seeking revocation and declarations of
invalidity of the Patent in each of the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France,
Spain, Germany and Austria. On March 26, 2007, the High Court of
Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court in London, England (the “English
Court”) ruled that the Patent was deemed invalid in the United Kingdom, and on
March 19, 2008 this decision was upheld on appeal. The English Court
rejected the ECB’s allegations of invalidity based on lack of novelty, lack of
inventive step and insufficiency, but held that the patent was invalid for added
subject matter. The English Court’s decision does not affect the validity of the
Patent in other European countries. On March 30, 2007, the English
Court awarded the ECB 30% of their costs (including legal fees) of the initial
trial, of which the Company paid 90,000 British pounds ($182,000 based on the
applicable exchange rate on that date) on April 19, 2007. We
expect that an additional 90,000 pounds ($130,500 at December 31, 2008) will
become payable by the Company for the costs of the initial trial, which is
included in accrued expenses as of December 31, 2008 in the amount of
$182,250. In July 2007, the Company posted a bond of 87,500 British
pounds ($131,000 at December 31, 2008), as collateral for the appeal costs which
is recorded as restricted cash at December 31, 2008. On June 19,
2008, the Company paid an additional 87,500 British pounds ($177,000 based
on the applicable exchange rate on that date) towards the ECB’s costs of the
English appeal. In January 2009, the Company received a formal
request for fee reimbursement from the ECB for a total of $420,000, in
addition to amounts already paid by the Company. The Company
hired an independent firm to assist the Company in reducing or eliminating the
ECB’s fees request, however, the Company recorded $145,000 as an
impairment loss and as additional accrued expenses as of December 31,
2008. The Company expects that the UK fee issue will be
resolved in second half of 2009.
On March
27, 2007 the Bundespatentgericht of the Federal Republic of Germany ruled that
the German part of the Patent was valid, having considered the English Court’s
decision. As a result of this ruling, the Company expects to be
awarded reimbursements for its costs associated with the German validity case,
which is Euro 44,692 ($65,000 at December 31, 2008), which the
Company will record when the amount, if any, is received. The ECB has
filed an appeal against that decision, which is not expected to be decided
before 2010. On January 9, 2008 the French Court held that the Patent
was invalid in France for the same reasons given by the English
Court. The Company is required to pay de minimus attorneys’ fees of
the ECB as a result of the French decision. The Company filed an
appeal against the French decision on May 7, 2008. On March 12, 2008
the Dutch Court, having considered the English, German and French decisions,
ruled that the Patent is valid in the Netherlands. The ECB filed an
appeal against the Dutch decision on March 27, 2008. A trial was also held in
Madrid, Spain on June 3 and 5, 2008 and oral and written closing submissions
were made on July 19, 2008. A judgment is expected in the first half of
2009.
The
Patent has thus been confirmed to be valid and enforceable in two jurisdictions
(Germany and the Netherlands) that use the Euro as its national currency
allowing us to proceed with infringement cases in these countries if we choose
to do so. Additional trials on the validity of the Patent are
expected in other European jurisdictions in 2009.
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC (“Trebuchet”) under which Trebuchet has agreed to pay
substantially all of the litigation costs associated with pending validity
proceedings initiated by the European Central Bank (“ECB”) in eight European
countries relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the
Company has claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euro
currency (the “Patent”). Trebuchet also agreed to pay substantially all of the
litigation costs associated with future validity challenges filed by the ECB or
other parties, provided that Trebuchet elects to assume the defense of any such
challenges, in its sole discretion, and patent infringement suits filed against
the ECB and certain other alleged infringers of the Patent, all of which suits
may be brought at the sole discretion of Trebuchet and may be in the name of the
Company, Trebuchet or both. The Company provided Trebuchet with the sole and
exclusive right to manage infringement litigation relating to the Patent in
Europe, including the right to initiate litigation in the name of the Company,
Trebuchet or both and to choose whom and where to sue, subject to certain
limitations set forth in the agreement. In addition, the Company and Trebuchet
have agreed to equally share all proceeds generated from litigation relating to
the Patent, Under the terms of the Agreement, and in consideration for the
Trebuchet's funding obligations, the Company assigned and transferred a 49%
interest of the Company's rights, title and interest in the Patent to Trebuchet
which allows Trebuchet to have a separate and distinct interest in and share of
the Patent, along with the right to sue and recover in litigation, settlement or
otherwise to collect royalties or other payments under or on account of the
Patent including judgments and licenses or other arrangements entered into in
settlement of any such litigation. Trebuchet is also entitled to recoup any
litigation expenses specifically awarded to the Company in such
actions.
On
January 31, 2003, the Company commenced an action, unrelated to the above ECB
litigation, entitled New Sky Communications, Inc., As Successor-In-Interest To
Thomas M. Wicker, Thomas M.Wicker Enterprises, Inc. and Document Security
Consultants V. Adler Technologies, Inc. N/K/A Adlertech International, Inc. and
Andrew McTaggert (United States District Court, Western District Of New York
Case No.03-Cv-6044t(F)) regarding certain intellectual property in which the
Company has an interest. The Company commenced this action alleging various
causes of action against Adler Technologies, Inc. and Andrew McTaggert for
breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, various
business torts, including unfair competition and declaratory relief. Adler
distributes and supplies anti-counterfeit document products and Mr. McTaggert is
a principal of Adler. Adler had entered into several purported agreements with
Thomas M. Wicker Enterprises and Document Security Consultants, both of which
the Company acquired in 2002. These alleged agreements, generally, would have
authorized Adler to manufacture in Canada the Company’s “Checkmate®” patented
system for verifying the authenticity of currency and documents. Other purported
agreements were signed between these parties and Thomas Wicker regarding other
technology claimed to have been owned by Wicker and assigned to the
Company. Among other things, the Company contends that certain of the
purported agreements are not binding and/or enforceable. To the
extent any of them are binding and enforceable, the Company claims that Adler
has breached these purported agreements, failed to make an appropriate
accounting and payments under them, and may have exceeded the scope of its
license. Adler has denied the material allegations of the complaint and has
counterclaimed against the Company, claiming Adler owns or co-owns or has a
license to use certain of the Company’s technologies. In May 2005,
the Company filed a first amended and supplemental complaint adding Blanks/USA
and Raymond Maxon as additional defendants. In February 2007, the
Company filed a second amended and supplemental complaint adding Judith Wu
(McTaggert’s wife) and Arcis Digital Security, Inc. (a company in which Ms. Wu
is involved) as additional defendants. Maxon has asserted a
counterclaim against the Company contending that the Company’s purported
acquisition of a certain patent from Thomas Wicker in 2002 gave rise to an
alleged right on the part of Maxon to receive a portion of Thomas Wicker’s
proceeds from such acquisition. The Company has denied the material
allegations of all of the counterclaims. If Adler or Maxon is
successful, it may materially affect the Company, the Company’s financial
condition, and the Company’s ability to market and sell certain of the Company
technology and related products. This case is in discovery phase, and
it is too soon to determine how the various issues raised by the lawsuit will be
determined.
18
In
addition to the foregoing, we are subject to other legal proceedings that have
arisen in the ordinary course of business and have not been finally adjudicated.
Although there can be no assurance in this regard, in the opinion of management,
none of the legal proceedings to which we are a party, whether discussed herein
or otherwise, will have a material adverse effect on our results of operations,
cash flows or our financial condition.
ITEM
4 - SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS
There
were no matters submitted to a vote of security holders in the fourth quarter of
2008.
19
PART
II
ITEM
5 - MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND
ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our
Common Stock is listed on the American Stock Exchange, where it trades under the
symbol “DMC.”
The
following table sets forth the high and low closing prices for the shares of our
Common Stock, for the periods indicated.
QUARTER
ENDING
|
HIGH
|
LOW
|
||||||
March
31, 2008
|
$ | 6.85 | $ | 4.20 | ||||
June
30, 2008
|
6.87 | 4.68 | ||||||
September
30, 2008
|
5.25 | 4.83 | ||||||
December
31, 2008
|
4.40 | 1.40 | ||||||
QUARTER
ENDING
|
HIGH
|
LOW
|
||||||
March
31, 2007
|
$ | 11.95 | $ | 8.60 | ||||
June
30, 2007
|
13.79 | 10.85 | ||||||
September
30, 2007
|
14.65 | 10.34 | ||||||
December
31, 2007
|
11.20 | 5.32 |
On March
27, 2009, our Common Stock had a high of $1.70 and a low of $1.65 and a closing
price of $1.65.
Issued
and Outstanding
Our
certificate of incorporation authorizes 200,000,000 shares of Common Stock, par
value $0.02. As of March 26, 2009, we had 14,697,556 shares of Common Stock,
issued of which 14,375,060 were outstanding.
Recent
Issuances of Unregistered Securities
On
December 18, 2008, the Company issued a warrant to purchase up to a total of
250,000 shares of the Company's common stock to Baum Capital Investments Inc.
("Baum") in connection with the financing of the Company's acquisition of DPI of
Rochester, LLC. As part of the financing, the Company entered a Secured
Promissory Note in the principal amount of up to $900,000 with Baum and
concurrently issued Baum the warrant. The note has a one-year term, is secured
by all of the assets of DPI Secuprint and has an annual interest rate of 15%,
with a reduction to 12%, depending on whether certain conditions are met after
three months. The warrants have an average exercise price of $2.00 per share,
are exercisable from February 16, 2009 and expire on December 17, 2013. The fair
value of the warrants of approximately $256,000 was determined using the Black
Scholes option pricing model, and was recorded as discount on debt and will be
amortized over the term of the Note. The note and warrant were issued in a
transaction not involving a public offering and exempt from registration
pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933. Baum was knowledgeable
about the Company's operations and financial condition and had access to such
information. The transaction did not involve any form of general solicitation.
The note, warrant and the underlying warrant shares issued are restricted from
resale.
Stockholders
As of March 26, 2009, we had
approximately 1,462 record holders of our Common Stock. This number
does not include the number of persons whose shares are in nominee or in “street
name” accounts through brokers.
Dividends
We did
not pay dividends during 2008 or 2007. We presently intend to retain
our cash for use in the operation and expansion of our business and, therefore,
do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable
future.
Stock
Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent
Our stock
transfer agent is American Stock Transfer & Trust Co., 6201 15th Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11219. We act as our own warrant agent for our outstanding
warrants.
Share
Repurchased by the Registrant
We did
not purchase or repurchase any of our securities in the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2008, including the fourth quarter.
The
information required by Item 201(d) of Regulation S-K will be contained in
our Proxy Statement for our Annual Stockholders Meeting, which we will file with
the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31,
2008, and which is incorporated by reference herein.
20
ITEM
7 - MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF
OPERATIONS
Forward-Looking
Statements
This
Annual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements that contain the words
“believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends” and similar words and
phrases. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results projected
in any forward-looking statement. In addition to the factors specifically noted
in the forward-looking statements, other important factors, risks and
uncertainties that could result in those differences include, but are not
limited to, those discussed under Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this
Annual Report. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this
Annual Report, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking
statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those
projected in the forward-looking statements. Investors should consult all of the
information set forth in this report and the other information set forth from
time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including our reports on
Forms 10-Q and 8-K.
The
following discussion should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated
Financial Statements and Notes thereto included in Item 8 of this Annual
Report.
Overview
Document
Security Systems, Inc., markets and sells products designed to protect valuable
information from unauthorized scanning, copying, and digital
imaging. We have developed security technologies that are applied
during the normal printing process and by all printing methods including
traditional offset, gravure, flexo, digital or via the internet on paper,
plastic, or packaging. We hold eight patents that protect our technology and
have over a dozen patents in process or pending. Our technologies and
products are used by federal, state and local governments, law enforcement
agencies and are also applied to a broad variety of industries as well,
including financial institutions, high technology and consumer goods,
entertainment and gaming, healthcare/pharmaceutical, defense and genuine parts
industries. Our
customers use our technologies where there is a need for enhanced security for
protecting and verification of critical financial instruments and vital records,
or where there are concerns of counterfeiting, fraud, identity theft, brand
protection and liability.
We have
developed or acquired over 30 technologies that provide to our customers a wide
spectrum of solutions. We sell our products under the
AuthentiGuard® name
generally in the following ways: (a) as generic products, including safety paper
and plastic cards geared for the end user market for printed security products;
(b) as custom printed products; (c) as technology licenses; or (d) as customized
digital implementations.
In 2006,
we acquired San Francisco-based Plastic Printing Professionals, Inc. (“P3”), a
privately held security printer specializing in plastic cards containing state
of the art multiple or singular security technologies. P3’s primary
focus is manufacturing long-life composite, laminated and surface printed cards
which can include magnetic stripes, bar codes, holograms, signature panels,
invisible ink, micro fine printing, guilloche patterns, Biometric, RFID and a
patent-pending watermark technology. P3’s products are marketed through an
extensive broker network that covers much of North America, Europe and South
America. P3’s product and client list includes the Grammy Awards, the
Country Music Association awards, sporting event media cards, ID cards for major
airports and Latin American and African driver’s licenses. Our
acquisition of P3 marked the initial execution of our strategy to expand our
manufacturing capabilities through acquisitions in order to expand our custom
security printing business. During 2007, we moved P3’s operation to a
25,000 square foot facility and upgraded some of its equipment, most notably
with a significant investment in a new state of the art
laminator. These actions were taken in order to significantly
increase the capacity and efficiency of the operation to meet expected future
demand requirements. During 2007, we sold the assets of our retail
printing and copying division, called Patrick Printing, to an unrelated third
party to further improve our focus and efficiency.
On August
20, 2008, we entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners, LLC in
which Trebuchet agreed to pay substantially all of the litigation costs
associated with pending litigation proceedings initiated by the European Central
Bank in eight European countries relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455
750B1 that the Company has claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euros
currency in exchange for a 50% share of any proceeds generated from the
litigation. Under the terms of the agreement, and in consideration
for Trebuchet’s funding obligations, the Company assigned and transferred a 49%
interest of the Company’s rights, title and interest in the Patent to Trebuchet
which allows Trebuchet to have as a separate and exclusive interest including a
separate and distinct right to exploit the Patent.
21
In
December 2008, we acquired substantially all of the assets of DPI of Rochester,
LLC, a million privately held commercial printer with approximately $7.6 million
in sales in 2007 located in Rochester, NY. We formed a new
subsidiary called DPI Secuprint to house this new company. As a
result of this acquisition, we have significantly improved our ability to meet
our current and expected future demand of our security paper products as well as
improving our competitiveness in the market for custom security printing,
especially in the areas of vital records, coupons, transcripts, and prescription
paper. In addition, as a result of the acquisition, we believe
we can offer our customers a wider range of commercial printing
offerings.
During
2008, we placed approximately $600,000 of leased equipment into service at our
plastic printing division to significantly increase the production capability
and expand its services in the variable data card and RFID
markets. These leases were accounted for as operating
leases.
RESULTS
OF OPERATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008 AND 2007
The
following discussion and analysis provides information that our management
believes is relevant to an assessment and understanding of our results of
operations and financial condition. All amounts have been adjusted to reflect
the Company’s results after effect of the discontinued
operations. On September 25, 2007, the Company sold its copying
and quick-printing business to a private investor. In accordance with
FASB 144, the Company accounts for the revenue and expenses of this operation,
which is a component of its security and commercial printing segment, as a
discontinued operation. In December 2008, we acquired substantially all of the
assets of DPI of Rochester, LLC, a $7.6 million privately held commercial
printer located in Rochester, NY with approximately $7.6 million in sales in
2007. We formed a new subsidiary called DPI Secuprint to house
this new company. DPI Secuprint’s results for the period from
December 19, 2008 to December 31, 2008 are included in 2008
amounts. The discussion should be read in conjunction with the
financial statements and footnotes that appear elsewhere in this
report.
Revenue
Year
Ended
December
31, 2008
|
Year
Ended
December
31,
2007
|
%
change vs.
2007
|
||||||||||
Revenue
|
||||||||||||
Security
and commercial printing
|
$ | 4,387,000 | $ | 3,913,000 | 12 | % | ||||||
Technology
license royalties
|
1,614,000 | 1,195,000 | 35 | % | ||||||||
Digital
solutions
|
33,000 | 201,000 | -84 | % | ||||||||
Legal
products
|
610,000 | 682,000 | -11 | % | ||||||||
Total
Revenue
|
6,644,000 | 5,991,000 | 11 | % |
Revenue - 2008 vs 2007: The
increase in total revenue in 2008 compared to 2007 resulted primarily from
increases in royalty revenue from the licensing of the Company’s technology, and
from increases in sales of security and commercial printing. These
increases were offset by a decrease in digital solutions revenue as the Company
did not have any one significant sale of its digital solutions product line as
it had in 2007. Through the first nine months of 2008, revenue had
increased 23% compared to the first nine months of 2007 primarily as a the
result of the significant impact of royalty revenue recognized in the second
quarter of 2008 along with a 24% growth in the company’s sales of its security
and commercial printing. However, during the fourth quarter of
2008, revenue decreased 21% as compared to 2007 as the Company experienced
declines in all of its major revenue categories. The Company believes
its fourth quarter results reflected the negative impact of the significant
downturn in the overall world economic climate that occurred during the fourth
quarter of 2008.
During
the second quarter of 2008, the Company recognized approximately $542,000 of
previously deferred royalty revenue as the result of a new agreement with the
Ergonomic Group in April 2008. Under a previous agreement with
the Ergonomic Group, the Company received $1,000,000 in non-refundable license
and royalty fees, of which $500,000 was recognized as royalty revenue
pro-ratably over a two year license period and the remaining $500,000 was
considered a prepaid royalty, to be recognized as revenue when sales of products
using the licensed technology were made. This agreement was
cancelled and a new agreement with the Ergonomic Group that covers the Company’s
newest digital technologies was established. As a result, the non
refundable license and royalty payment no longer met the criteria for deferral
and was recognized in the second quarter of 2008.
22
Legalstore.com
saw an approximately 11% decline in revenue during 2008, which we believe was
due to slowing conditions in the general economy along with the effects of an
issue with its adwords on one of the major search engine sites that caused it to
lose some of its prominent placement for certain keywords during the latter half
of 2008 The Company believes that it has addressed this
issue with its new website which went live on January 2, 2009.
Gross
profit
Year
Ended
December
31, 2008
|
Year
Ended
December
31,
2007
|
%
change vs.
2007
|
||||||||||
Costs
of revenue
|
||||||||||||
Security
and commercial printing
|
$ | 2,663,000 | $ | 2,466,000 | 8 | % | ||||||
Digital
Solutions
|
14,000 | 44,000 | -68 | % | ||||||||
Legal
products
|
352,000 | 354,000 | -1 | % | ||||||||
Total
cost of revenue
|
3,029,000 | 2,864,000 | 6 | % | ||||||||
Gross
profit
|
||||||||||||
Security
and commercial printing
|
1,724,000 | 1,447,000 | 19 | % | ||||||||
Technology
license royalties
|
1,614,000 | 1,195,000 | 35 | % | ||||||||
Digital
solutions
|
19,000 | 157,000 | -88 | % | ||||||||
Legal
products
|
258,000 | 328,000 | -21 | % | ||||||||
Total
gross profit
|
3,615,000 | 3,127,000 | 16 | % |
Year
Ended
December
31, 2008
|
Year
Ended
December
31,
2007
|
%
change vs.
2007
|
||||||||||
Gross
profit percentage:
|
||||||||||||
Gross
profit percentage:
|
54 | % | 52 | % | 4 | % |
Gross Profit - 2008 vs 2007
Gross
profit increased 16% to $3,615,000 during 2008 as compared to
2007. The percentage increase in gross profit surpassed the
percentage increase in revenue during the same period primarily the result of
increase in royalty revenue, which has the highest gross profit margin, along
with the ability of the Company to increase its margins through operating
efficiencies and material cost savings that the Company was able to generate at
its plastics division’s new facility. There are
no direct costs associated with the Company’s license royalty revenue, as any
related costs, such as sales commissions, legal fees, and travel fees, are
classified in their respective operating expense categories.
Legalstore.com experienced a significant decline in margins as that
division was impacted by a decline in sales against certain fixed costs of
sales, along with a change in sales mix to items that sell at lower
markups. The Legalstore division went live with a new e-commerce
website that we believe will provide it with improved sales analytic
capabilities that the Company expects help it improve its margins in
2009.
23
Operating
Expenses
Year
Ended
December
31, 2008
|
Year
Ended
December
31,
2007
|
%
change vs.
2007
|
||||||||||
Selling,
general and administrative
|
||||||||||||
General
and administrative compensation
|
$ | 2,196,000 | $ | 2,023,000 | 9 | % | ||||||
Professional
Fees
|
896,000 | 1,404,000 | -36 | % | ||||||||
Sales
and marketing
|
1,089,000 | 1,974,000 | -45 | % | ||||||||
Research
and development
|
432,000 | 420,000 | 3 | % | ||||||||
Other
|
1,337,000 | 1,129,000 | 18 | % | ||||||||
5,950,000 | 6,950,000 | -14 | % | |||||||||
Other
Operating Expenses
|
||||||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
167,000 | 89,000 | 88 | % | ||||||||
Stock
based payments
|
1,747,000 | 1,355,000 | 29 | % | ||||||||
Impairment
of patent defense costs and other intangible assets
|
797,000 | - | ||||||||||
Amortization
of intangibles
|
1,972,000 | 1,754,000 | 12 | % | ||||||||
4,683,000 | 3,198,000 | 46 | % | |||||||||
Total
Operating Expenses
|
10,633,000 | 10,148,000 | 5 | % |
Selling,
General and Administrative – 2008 vs 2007
General and administrative
compensation costs were 9% higher in 2008 as compared to 2007 which
primarily reflects an increase in the cash compensation of the non-employee
members of the Company’s board of directors, a full year of the Company’s legal
counsel, who was hired during 2007, increases in health insurance costs, and the
impact of the addition of general administrative personnel from the Company’s
acquisition which occurred on December 18, 2008.
Professional
Fees
Year
Ended
December
31, 2008
|
Year
Ended
December
31,
2007
|
%
change vs.
2007
|
||||||||||
Professional
Fees Detail
|
||||||||||||
Accounting
and auditing
|
$ | 259,000 | $ | 326,000 | -21 | % | ||||||
Consulting
|
384,000 | 447,000 | -14 | % | ||||||||
Legal
|
94,000 | 347,000 | -73 | % | ||||||||
Stock
Transfer, SEC and Investor Relations
|
159,000 | 284,000 | -44 | % | ||||||||
$ | 896,000 | $ | 1,404,000 | -36 | % |
The
decrease in professional fees during 2008 reflect significant decreases in
non-patent related legal fees, accounting fees, and the impact of the
fact that the Company utilized in-house counsel, who’s salary is classified as
administrative compensation, for all of 2008, as compared to partially in 2007.
In addition, stock transfer and investor relations fees reduced as the Company
reduced its annual report and meeting fees during
2008. Accounting fee reductions reflect reduced SEC compliance
costs. Legal costs do not include approximately $700,000 of legal and
related costs incurred during 2008 ($2,033,000 -2007) associated with the
application and defense of our patents, which the Company capitalizes and
amortizes over the expected life of the patent.
Sales and
marketing expenses,
including sales and marketing personnel costs, decreased during
2008 as the Company reduced sales and marketing headcount by four,
reduced public relations and marketing costs and significantly reduced the
amount spent on travel and entertainment. The Company reduced
these costs as it realigned its sales process in order to maximize the results
of its sales and marketing efforts with the goal of focusing of near term
revenue opportunities.
24
Other expenses are
primarily rent and utilities, office supplies, IT support, bad debt expense and
insurance costs. Increases in 2008 reflect costs increases associated
with an increase in rent costs and one time costs associated with the move of
the Company’s plastic printing division to a larger facility, higher utility
costs, an increase in insurance costs, and the addition of rent, insurance and
office costs from the Company’s acquisition which occurred on December 18,
2008.
Stock
Based Payments
Stock-based
compensation includes expense charges for all stock-based awards to employees,
directors and consultants. Such awards include option grants, warrant
grants, and restricted stock awards. Stock-based compensation
increases in year ended December 31, 2008 reflect equity-based payments made to
employees, directors, and third-party consultants, including approximately
$194,000 of expense as the result of the acceleration of vesting of restricted
shares and $18,000 due to the modification of options to the Company’s former
President as the result of his separation from the Company in May
2008. In addition, on August 13, 2008, the Company
cancelled 330,500 employee stock options with exercise prices ranging from $6.24
to $12.50, and replaced the cancelled options with 330,500 employee stock
options with an exercise price of $6.00. No other terms of the
options were modified. On the date of grant, the fair market value of
the Company’s Common Stock was $5.15. The repricing was treated as a
modification under FAS123R, and resulted additional aggregate fair value expense
determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model of approximately
$225,000, of which approximately $170,000 was expensed as of the grant date for
fully vested options. The remaining fair value of the modified
options will be expense proratably during the expected vesting period of the
options thru 2010.
In
addition, on May 3, 2007, the Company granted a total of 445,000 restricted
shares to certain members of senior management, of which 250,000 were retired
unvested in 2008. These shares only vest upon the occurrence of
certain events over the next 5 years, which include a change of control or other
merger or acquisition of the Company, the achievement of certain financial
goals, including among other things, a successful result of the Company’s patent
infringement suit against the European Central Bank. Of the
remaining 195,000 restricted shares remaining under this grants, these shares,
if vested, would result in the recording of stock based compensation expense of
approximately $2,438,000 in the period in which any of the contingent vesting
events is deemed to be probable. As of December 31, 2008 and
2007, vesting was not considered probable and no compensation expense has been
recognized for these grants.
Amortization
of intangibles
Amortization
of intangibles expense increased 12% in 2008 as compared to 2007 due to the
increase in the patent defense costs capitalized by the Company during the
latter half of 2007 and the first half of 2008. We amortize the costs
associated with patent rights that we acquired in 2005 and legal costs
associated with the registration and defense of our patents, including the costs
associated with our lawsuit against the ECB for patent infringement and the
related ECB countersuits for patent validity. The
Company considers patent related amortization expense as an operating expense.
The company believes that the decision to incur patent costs is discretionary as
the associated products or services can be sold prior to or during the
application process. A significant portion of these assets were
acquired by the issuance of equity-based instruments. On August 20, 2008,
the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC, which agreed to pay substantially all of the litigation costs
associated with its ECB litigation. Under the
terms of the Agreement, and in consideration for Trebuchet’s funding agreement,
the Company assigned and transferred a 49% interest of all the Company’s right,
title and interest in the Patent to Trebuchet which allows Trebuchet to have a
separate and exclusive interest including a separate and distinct right to
exploit the Patent. In addition, the two parties agreed to equally
share all proceeds generated from litigation relating to the Patent, including
judgments and licenses or other arrangements entered into in settlement of any
such litigation. The Company considered this a triggering event and reviewed its
remaining capitalized patent costs related to the Patent for impairment as of
September 30, 2008. The Company also reviewed its capitalized patent
costs for impairment at December 31, 2008 at which time, the Company determined
that the expected eventual outcome of the legal action and recoverability of
proceeds or added economic value of the patent was still in excess of the
current carrying amount.
In
addition, the Company has approximately $261,000 of net other intangible assets
as of December 31, 2008 that consist of a royalty right and well as acquired
intangibles including customer lists and a trade name. These assets
will generate approximately $130,000 of annual amortization expense during the
next 2 years. We
account for this amortization as an operating expense, unless the underlying
asset is directly associated with the production or delivery of a product. To
date, the amount of related amortization expense for other intangible
assets directly attributable to revenue recognized is not material.
In addition, the Company has approximately $1,397,000 in goodwill derived
from acquisitions. Goodwill is not amortized, but could become
a component of expense if an impairment is determined.
25
Impairment
of Patent Defense Costs and Other Intangible Assets
On March
19, 2008, the Company received notification that its appeal of the invalidation
of its European Patent 455750B1 in the UK was not successful. As
result of the adverse court decision, the Company recognized an impairment loss
of $292,000 associated with costs directly related to the U.K appeal as of March
31, 2008. The impairment loss includes a judgment for reimbursement
of estimated counterpart legal fees. In January, 2009, the Company
received a formal request for fee reimbursement from the ECB for a total of
$420,000 in additon to amounts already paid by the
Company. The Company hired an independent firm to assist the Company
in reducing or eliminating the ECB’s fees request, however, the
Company recorded $145,000 as additional accrued expenses and an impairment loss
as of December 31, 2008. The Company expect that the UK fee
issue will be resolved in second half of 2009. In addition, the Company recorded
an impairment of $361,000 for a license agreement the Company had acquired in
2006 for RSS Barcodes for which the Company assessed that the probable future
cash flows derived from the license did not support the net carrying value of
the license as of December 31, 2008.
Other
Income and expense
On May
31, 2008, the Company was awarded a judgment of approximately $126,000 pursuant
to a counterclaim by the Company in the matter “Frank LaLoggia v. Document
Security Systems, Inc”, which the Company won in June 2006. The
Company expects to collect the full amount of the judgment.
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC Pursuant to the Agreement, Trebuchet has agreed to pay substantially all of
the litigation costs associated with pending validity proceedings initiated by
the European Central Bank in eight European countries relating to the Company’s
European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the Company has claimed the ECB infringed in
printing of the Euros currency. Under the
terms of the Agreement, and in consideration for Trebuchet’s funding agreement,
the Company assigned and transferred a 49% interest of all the Company’s right,
title and interest in the Patent to Trebuchet which allows Trebuchet to have a
separate and exclusive interest including a separate and distinct right to
exploit the Patent. Pursuant to this transaction, the Company recognized
a loss on the sale of patent assets for its assignment and transfer of 49% of
its ownership rights in the patent, which had a net book value of approximately
$1,670,000, for $500,000. As a result, the Company recognized a loss on sale of
patent assets of $1,170,000.
During
2008, the Company had significant increase in interest expense as a result of
the Company’s borrowings it made during 2008 against its various credit
facilities, along with interest associated with several capital leases the
Company entered into in late 2007. As of December 31, 2008, the
Company had $3.2 million of total debt at interest rates ranging from prime plus
2% to 15%.
Discontinued
operations
On
September 25, 2007, the Company sold certain assets and the operations of its
retail copying and quick-printing operations to an unrelated third party for
$80,000 and the assumption of ongoing operating leases. The sale
included fixed assets with a net book value of approximately
$37,000. The Company recognized a gain on the sale of approximately
$43,000. In accordance with SFAS 144, the disposal of assets constitutes a
component of the entity and has been accounted for as discontinued
operations.
Net
loss and loss per share
Years
Ended December 31,
|
||||||||||||
2008
|
2007
|
%
change vs.
2007
|
||||||||||
Net
loss
|
(8,285,000 | ) | (6,987,000 | ) | 19 | % | ||||||
Net
loss per share, basic and diluted
|
(0.59 | ) | (0.51 | ) | 16 | % | ||||||
Weighted
average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted
|
14,002,034 | 13,629,877 | 3 | % |
Net
loss and loss per share - 2008 vs 2007
During
2008, the Company experienced a net loss of $8.3 million, a 19% increase from
the net loss of 2007. The increase in net loss during 2008 was
primarily the result of the Company’s recognition of a non-recurring loss on the
sale of patent assets of $1.2 million and impairment of assets of $797,000.
Otherwise, net loss for 2008 without the impact of these non-recurring items
would have been approximately $6.3 million, a decrease of approximately 10% from
2007. The improvement in net loss, other than the effect of the one-time loss on
sale of patent, was due to the Company’s ability to increase its sales and gross
profits while reducing its selling and general operating expenses.
26
Our basic
and diluted loss per share has increased due to the increased dollar value of
our loss partially offset by an increase in the weighted average common shares
outstanding in 2008 compared to 2007. Our shares have increased as we
have issued shares pursuant to the private placements of our common stock,
including subscribed shares, that occurred during 2008.
Acquisition
On
December 18, 2008, we acquired through a wholly owned subsidiary, Secuprint
Inc. (dba DPI Secuprint, Inc.) acquired substantially all of the
assets of DPI of Rochester, LLC (“DPI”) for approximately $938,000 in cash and
$145,000 of transaction expenses, the right to assume certain leases, including
its lease to its building, and a contingent payment of up to $50,000 within five
years of the acquisition. The acquisition has been accounted for as a
business combination. Under business combination accounting, the total
preliminary purchase price was allocated to DPI’s assets acquired based on their
estimated fair values as of December 18, 2008 as determined by
management.
Liquidity
and Capital Resources
The
Company’s cash flows and other key indicators of liquidity are summarized as
follows:
Year
Ended
December
31,
2008
|
Year
Ended
December
31,
2007
|
%
change vs. 2007
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Cash
flows from:
|
||||||||||||
Operating
activities
|
$ | (2,391,000 | ) | $ | (3,219,000 | ) | 26 | % | ||||
Investing
activities
|
(2,266,000 | ) | (1,941,000 | ) | -17 | % | ||||||
Financing
activities
|
4,002,000 | 100,000 | -3902 | % | ||||||||
Working
capital
|
(1,481,000 | ) | (1,198,000 | ) | 24 | % | ||||||
Current
ratio
|
0.58 | x | 0.65 | x | -25 | % | ||||||
Cash
and cash equivalents
|
$ | 88,000 | $ | 742,000 | -88 | % | ||||||
Revolving
credit notes
|
$ | 2,283,000 | $ | 300,000 | 661 | % | ||||||
Funds
Available from Open Credit Facilities
|
$ | 1,317,000 | $ | 3,300,000 | -60 | % |
As of
December 31, 2008, we had cash and cash equivalents of $88,000, representing an
88% decrease over our December 31, 2007 cash position. As discussed
below, the decrease in the Company’s cash position was primarily due to the use
of cash from operations and the use of cash for the expansion of its operations,
the purchase of fixed assets, and the defense of its patent
portfolio.
Operating Cash Flow –
During 2008, the Company used approximately $2.4 million of cash for
operations. The 26% decrease in its use of cash for operations
during 2008 as compared to 2007 generally reflected the Company’s increase in
sales and a decrease in operating costs that the Company achieved during the
year. Specifically, the Company realized the benefits of significant
cost reductions that it initiated in early 2008. Furthermore, during
the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company used $283,000 for operations, as it
aggressively managed its cash costs and continued to realized the benefits of
its lower cost structure. As of December 31, 2008, the Company
believes that it will need to reach an annual revenue level in the ranged of
approximately $12.0 to $15.0 million based on its current expense levels and its
projected mix of revenue in order to maintain positive operating cash
flow
27
Investing Cash Flow
- During 2008, the
Company used approximately $2.3 million for investing activities. Specifically,
the Company used $335,000 for equipment additions and leasehold investments for
its plastic printing division. In addition, the Company used approximately $1.1
million in 2008 for the acquisition of a commercial printer in December
2008. Finally, the Company used $1.3 million
towards the payment of patent defense costs and patent application
costs. In 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with
Trebuchet Capital Partners regarding its patent defense litigation that will
virtually eliminate the Company’s future patent defense costs related to this
litigation The Company does not have any material
commitments for capital expenditures as of December 31, 2008, other than leases
for certain equipment for its newly acquired commercial printing
operation. These leases are expected to be recorded as
operating leases.
Financing Cash Flows
–On June 25, 2008 the Company entered into two Share Purchase Agreements
pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell a total of 500,000 shares of the
Company’s common stock for an aggregate purchase price of
$2,000,000. Pursuant to the terms of the first Agreement, the
Company sold 150,000 shares of Common Stock to the Purchaser for $600,000
payable on June 25, 2008. Pursuant to the terms of the second Agreement, the
Company sold 350,000 shares of Common Stock for $1,400,000, with $100,000 paid
on June 25, 2008 and the remaining $1,300,000 payable in six-month installments
over a two-year period. As of March 31, 2009, the share
subscription was not current and the Company is reviewing its options under the
Agreement, which may include termination of the agreement.
On
December 18, 2008, the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Secuprint, Inc. (dba
DPI Secuprint, Inc.) entered a Secured Promissory Note in the principal amount
of up to $900,000 to pay for most of the cash portion of the purchase price of
the Company’s acquisition of substantially all of the assets of DPI of
Rochester, LLC. The Secured Promissory Note has a one-year term, is
secured by all of the assets of DPI Secuprint and has an annual interest rate of
between 12% and 15%. The note is subject to pre-payments if among
other provisions, if DPI Secuprint’s cash receipts do not exceed its cash
expenditures for two consecutive months during the term. As of March
31, 2009, DPI Secuprint was in compliance with the terms of the
note.
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC who agreed to pay substantially all of the litigation costs associated with
pending validity proceedings initiated by the ECB in eight European countries
relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the Company has
claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euro
currency. Trebuchet has also purchased 100,000 shares of the
Company’s common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $400,000, the proceeds
of which were used by the Company to pay existing litigation cost.
In
January 2008, the Company entered into two credit agreements to enhance its
capital resources. The first is the Credit Facility Agreement with
Fagenson and Co., Inc., as agent for other unrelated lenders, or the Fagenson
Credit Agreement, for borrowings of up to a maximum of $3,000,000 until January
4, 2010. Fagenson & Co, is a related party to Robert B. Fagenson,
the Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors. The advances are
generally limited to $400,000 unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by both
parties per fiscal quarter, with the exception of $600,000 that can be advanced
at any time for patent litigation related bills. The loans have an
annual interest rate of 2% above LIBOR and are secured by the common stock of
our wholly owned subsidiary P3. Interest is payable quarterly in
arrears and the principal is payable in full at the end of the term under the
Fagenson Credit Agreement. The second is a Credit Facility
Agreement with Patrick White, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and a
director. The Company can borrow up to $600,000 until January 4,
2010. The loans bear an annual interest rate of 2% above LIBOR and
are secured by the accounts receivable of the Company, excluding the accounts
receivable of P3. Interest is payable quarterly in arrears and the
principal is payable in full at the end of the term under the White Credit
Agreement. Mr. White can accept common stock as repayment of the loan
upon a default. Under the terms of the agreement the Company is
required to comply with various covenants. As of December 31, 2008,
the Company was in default of both agreements due to a failure to pay interest
when due. Both Fagenson and Co., Inc. and Mr. White have waived these
defaults through January 1, 2010. As of December 31, 2008, the
Company had outstanding $450,000 under the White Credit Agreement, $1,833,000
under the Fagenson Credit Agreement. Interest expense amounted to
$82,000 for the year ending December 31, 2008, of which $54,000 is included in
accrued expenses as of December 31, 2008.
28
Future Capital Needs
– The Company expects to use its working capital to support its growth efforts
in order to achieve consistent positive cash flow from operations. At
its current revenue levels, the Company expects to continue to use cash for
operations during 2009 at the pace experienced during the second half of
2008. The Company estimates that it requires a revenue level of
approximately $12.0 million to $15.0 million to breakeven on operating cash flow
basis. This revenue level is consistent with the 2008 pro-forma
revenue level of the Company on a consolidated basis with its newly acquired
commercial printing business, DPI Secuprint. The Company believes
that it can achieve this revenue level by the end of 2009, if general economic
conditions stabilize. Based on this expectation, the Company
has committed to focus its expenditures during 2009 on areas of research and
development, and sales and marketing that support near-term revenue
opportunities. To address its cash requirements to the extent
not provided from operations, the Company will seek to continue to reduce costs
to a level commensurate to its revenue levels in order to reduce the operating
cash requirements, to obtain additional equity financing, most likely though
private placements, borrow funds from its two secured credit facilities, and
seek certain refundable tax credits for which the Company may be
eligible. As of December 31, 2008, the Company has up to $1.3
million available to it under its secured credit facilities, which the Company
believes will be sufficient along with cash from operations to fund its
operations for the next twelve months. In December 2008, the Company borrowed
$900,000 of short term debt in conjunction with its acquisition of substantially
all of the assets of DPI, a commercial printer. The Company expects
that existing working capital at DPI will be sufficient to satisfy the payment
of the $900,000 when due, in December 2009.
Furthermore,
the Company has two credit facilities with related parties that will be due in
January 2010. The total amount due may by up to $3,600,000 if
the Company cannot generate sufficient cash from operations to pay these credit
facilities down prior to their due dates. In the event
that the Company cannot pay these credit facilities when due, the Company
believes that it will be able to extend the terms of these notes, or negotiate
with the lenders other means of satisfying these credit facilities, including
the payment of amounts due in the form of the Company’s
equity. However, there is no assurance that the Company
will be able to do so.
Key
Indicators of Future Results
We
believe that cash flow from operations is a significant key indicator for the
Company. Our ability to reduce our use of cash will depend on our
ability to grow revenue to a level sufficient to meet our operating expense
requirements. To grow revenue, we may merge with or acquire
manufacturing or related companies. Our ability to successfully
complete these transactions on favorable terms will be a significant key
indicator of our future results. These acquisitions may require
additional funds that the Company does not currently have. To obtain
additional investments in the future may require us to issue shares of our
Common Stock. Our ability to sell our Common Stock on favorable
terms will also be a significant key indicator of our future
results. In addition, we believe that our ability to successfully
enforce our patent rights, including our current litigation against the European
Central Bank, is a significant key indicator for the Company.
Off-Balance
Sheet Arrangements
We do not
have any off-balance sheet arrangements that have, or are reasonably likely to
have, an effect on our financial condition, financial statements, revenues or
expenses.
Inflation
Although
our operations are influenced by general economic conditions, we do not believe
that inflation had a material effect on our results of operations during 2008 or
2007 as we are generally able to pass the increase in our material and labor
costs to our customers, or absorb them as we improve the efficiency of our
operations.
Critical
Accounting Policies
The
preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires
management to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the amounts
reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying
notes. The consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year
ended December 31, 2008 describe the significant accounting policies and methods
used in the preparation of the consolidated financial
statements. Estimates are used for, but not limited to, the
accounting for the allowance for doubtful accounts and sales returns, goodwill
and long-lived asset impairments, inventory allowances, revenue recognition,
stock based compensation valuations, the valuation of intangible assets, and
allocation of assets in business combinations. Actual results could differ from
these estimates. The following critical accounting policies are
impacted significantly by judgments, assumptions and estimates used in the
preparation of our consolidated financial statements:
Long
Lived Assets
The
Company accounts for long-lived assets in accordance with the provisions of SFAS
No. 144, Accounting for the
Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets. This statement
requires that long-lived assets and certain identifiable intangibles be reviewed
for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the
carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of
assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of
an asset to future net undiscounted cash flows expected to be generate by the
asset. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment
to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the
assets exceeds the fair value of the assets. Fair value is determined
based on discounted cash flows or appraised values, depending on the nature of
the assets.
29
Fixed
assets are carried at cost. Depreciation is computed over the estimated useful
life of five to seven years using the straight-line depreciation method.
Leasehold improvements are amortized over the shorter of their useful life or
the lease term. Intangible assets consist primarily of royalty rights,
contractual rights, customer list, and patent acquisition, application and
defense costs. Amortization is computed over the estimated useful life of five
to twenty years using the straight-line depreciation
method. For patent related assets, the remaining legal life of
the patent is used as the estimated useful life unless circumstances determine
that the useful life will be less than the legal life. Long-lived
assets to be held and used by the Company are reviewed for impairment whenever
events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset
may not be recoverable. We periodically evaluate the recoverability of our
long-lived assets based on estimated future cash flows from and the estimated
fair value of such long-lived assets, and provide for impairment if such
undiscounted cash flows are insufficient to recover the carrying amount of the
long-lived asset.
Goodwill
Goodwill
is the excess of cost of an acquired entity over the fair value of amounts
assigned to assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business
combination. With the adoption of SFAS No. 142, “Goodwill and Other
Intangible Assets,” goodwill is not amortized, rather it is tested for
impairment annually, and will be tested for impairment between annual tests if
an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate the carrying amount
may be impaired. Impairment testing for goodwill is done at a
reporting unit level. Reporting units are one level below the
business segment level, but are combined when reporting units within the same
segment have similar economic characteristics. Under the criteria set forth by
SFAS No. 142, the Company has four reporting units based on the current
structure. An impairment loss generally would be recognized when the
carrying amount of the reporting unit’s net assets exceeds the estimated fair
value of the reporting unit. The Company completed its assessment of
any potential impairment upon adoption of this standard and performs annual
assessments.
Other Intangible
Assets and Patent Defense Costs
Other
intangible assets consists of costs associated with the application, acquisition
and defense of the Company’s patents, contractual rights to patents and trade
secrets associated with the Company’s technologies, a non-exclusive licensing
agreement, and customer lists obtained as a result of acquisitions. The
Company’s patents and trade secrets are for document anti-counterfeiting and
anti-scanning technologies and processes that form the basis of the Company’s
document security business. External legal costs incurred to defend
the Company’s patents are capitalized to the extent of an evident increase in
the value of the patents and an expected successful outcome, in accordance to
guidance provided by FASB Concept Statement No. 6 and related guidance in AICPA
Technical Questions and Answers, Section 2260, Other Assets, paragraph .03,
“Legal Expenses Incurred to Defend Patent Infringement Suit”. Patent defense costs are
expensed at the point when it is determined that the outcome is expected to be
unsuccessful. The Company capitalizes the cost of an appeal
until it is determined that the appeal will be
unsuccessful. The Company’s capitalized patent
defense costs expenses are analyzed for impairment based on the expected
eventual outcome of the legal action and recoverability of proceeds or added
economic value of the patent in excess of the
costs. Legal actions related to the same patent defense
case are unified into one asset group for the purposes on the impairment
analysis. The Company amortizes its other intangible assets over
their estimated useful lives. Patents are amortized over the
remaining legal life, up to 20 years. The
Company considers patent related amortization expense as an operating expense.
The Company believes that the decision to incur patent costs is discretionary as
the associated products or services can be sold prior to or during the
application process. We account for other intangible amortization as an
operating expense, unless the underlyings asset in directly associated with the
production or delivery of a product. To date, the amount of related
amortization expense for other intangible assets directly attributable to
revenue recognized is not material.
In
December 2008, the Company recorded an impairment $361,000 for this license
agreement the Company had acquired for which the Company assessed that the
probable future cash flows derived from the license did not support the net
carrying value of the license as of December 31, 2008.
On March
19, 2008, the Company received notification that its appeal of the invalidation
of its European Patent 455750B1 in the UK was not successful. As
result of the adverse court decision, the Company recognized an impairment loss
of $292,000 associated with costs directly related to the U.K
appeal. The impairment loss includes a judgment for reimbursement of
estimated counterpart legal fees. In January, 2009, the Company
received a formal request for fee reimbursement from the ECB for a total of
$420,000 in additon to amounts already paid by the
Company. The Company hired an independent firm to assist the Company
in reducing or eliminating the ECB’s fees request, however, the
Company recorded $145,000 as additional accrued expenses and an impairment loss
as of December 31, 2008. The Company expect that the UK fee
issue will be resolved in second half of 2009.
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC Pursuant to the Agreement, Trebuchet has agreed to pay substantially all of
the litigation costs associated with pending validity proceedings initiated by
the European Central Bank in eight European countries relating to the Company’s
European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the Company has claimed the ECB infringed in
printing of the Euros currency. Under the
terms of the Agreement, and in consideration for Trebuchet’s funding
obligations, the Company assigned and transferred a 49% interest of all the
Company’s right, title and interest in the Patent to Trebuchet which allows
Trebuchet to have a separate and distinct interest in and share of the Patent,
along with the right to sue and recover in litigation, settlement or otherwise
to collect royalties or other payments under or on account of the Patent.
Pursuant to this transaction, the Company recognized a loss on the sale of
patent assets for its assignment and transfer of 49% of its ownership rights in
the patents, which had a net book value of approximately $1,670,000, for
$500,000. As a result, the Company recognized a loss on sale of patent assets of
$1,170,000.
Revenue
Recognition
Sales of
security and other printing products, and legal products are recognized when a
product or service is delivered, shipped or provided to the customer and all
material conditions relating to the sale have been substantially
performed.
For
digital solutions sales, revenue is recognized in accordance with the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountant's Statement of Position (SOP) No. 97-2,
"Software Revenue Recognition," as modified by SOP No. 98-9, "Modification of
SOP No. 97-2, Software Revenue Recognition with Respect to Certain Transactions"
and Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 104, "Revenue
Recognition." Accordingly, revenue is recognized when all of
the following conditions are satisfied: (1) there is persuasive
evidence of an arrangement; (2) the service or product has been provided to the
customer; (3) the amount of fees to be paid by the customer is fixed or
determinable (4) the collection of our fees is reasonably
assured.
30
The
Company also enters into arrangements under which hosted software applications
are provided. Revenue is recognized for these arrangements based on the
provisions of EITF No. 00-3, Application of AICPA SOP 97-2 to Arrangements That
Include the Right to Use Software Stored on Another Entity’s Hardware (“EITF
00-3”), and the provisions of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 104, “Revenue
Recognition in Financial Statements”, when there is persuasive evidence of an
arrangement, collection of the resulting receivable is probable, the fee is
fixed or determinable and acceptance has occurred. Revenues related to these
arrangements consist of system implementation service fees and software
subscription fees. System implementation services represent set-up services that
do not qualify as separate units of accounting from the software subscriptions
as the customer would not purchase these services without the purchase of the
software subscription. As a result, revenue is recognized on system
implementation fees ratably over a period of time from when the core system
implementation services are completed and accepted by the customer over the
remaining customer relationship life, which is the contractual life of the
customer’s subscription agreement. Software subscription fees, which typically
commence upon completion of the related system implementation, are recognized
ratably over the applicable subscription period. Amounts billed and/or collected
prior to satisfying our revenue recognition policy are reflected as deferred
revenue.
The
Company recognizes revenue from technology licenses once all the following
criteria for revenue recognition have been met: (1) persuasive evidence of an
agreement exists; (2) the right and ability to use the product or technology has
been rendered; (3) the fee is fixed and determinable and not subject to refund
or adjustment; and (4) collection of the amounts due is reasonably
assured.
Share-Based
Payments
The
Company accounts for stock option awards granted under the Company’s Stock
Incentive Plans in accordance Statement of Financial Accounting Standard
No. 123 (revised 2004), “Share-Based Payment”, (“SFAS 123(R)”) using the
modified prospective transition method. Under this method, the Company is
required to record compensation expense for all stock based awards granted after
the date of adoption and for the unvested portion of previously granted awards
that remain outstanding as of the beginning of the adoption and prior periods
have not been restated. Under SFAS 123R, compensation expense related
to stock based payments are recorded over the requisite service period based on
the grant date fair value of the awards. The Company uses the
Black-Scholes option pricing model as the most appropriate method for
determining the estimated fair value for stock-based awards. The Black-Scholes
model requires the use of highly subjective and complex assumptions which
determine the fair value of stock-based awards, including the option’s expected
term and the price volatility of the underlying stock. The fair value of each
option award is estimated on the date of grant utilizing the Black Scholes
Option Pricing Model that uses the assumptions noted in the following
table.
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Volatility | 53.6 | % | 54.2 | % | ||||
Expected
option term
|
3.3
years
|
3.6
years
|
||||||
Risk-free
interest rate
|
3.09 | % | 4.2 | % | ||||
Expected
forfeiture rate
|
0.0 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
Expected
dividend yield
|
0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
The
Company’s accounting policy for equity instruments issued to consultants and
vendors in exchange for goods and services follows the provisions of EITF 96-18,
“Accounting for Equity Instruments That are Issued to Other Than Employees for
Acquiring, or in Conjunction with Selling, Goods or Services” and EITF 00-18,
“Accounting Recognition for Certain Transactions Involving Equity Instruments
Granted to Other Than Employees.” The measurement date for the fair value of the
equity instruments issued is determined at the earlier of (i) the date at
which a commitment for performance by the consultant or vendor is reached or
(ii) the date at which the consultant or vendor’s performance is complete.
In the case of equity instruments issued to consultants, the fair value of the
equity instrument is recognized over the term of the consulting
agreement
31
Income
Taxes
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are
determined based on temporary differences between income and expenses reported
for financial reporting and tax reporting. Statement of Financial
Accounting Standards (“SFAS”) No. 109, “Accounting for Income Taxes” (“SFAS
109”) requires that a valuation allowance be established when management
determines that it is more likely than not that all or a portion of a deferred
tax asset will not be realized. The Company evaluates the
realizability of its net deferred tax assets on an annual basis and
any additional valuation allowances are provided or released, as
necessary. Since the Company has had cumulative losses in recent
years, the accounting guidance suggest that we should not look to future
earnings to support the realizability of the net deferred tax
asset. As a result, as of the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2007,
the Company has recorded a valuation allowance to reduce its net deferred tax
assets to zero in accordance with SFAS 109. See Footnote 11 for further
analysis.
The Company believes that the
accounting estimates related to deferred tax valuation allowances are “critical
accounting estimates” because: (1) the need for valuation allowance is highly
susceptible to change from period to period due to changes in deferred tax asset
and deferred tax liability balances, (2) the need for valuation allowance is
susceptible to actual operating results and (3) changes in the tax valuation
allowance can have a material impact on the tax provisions/benefit in the
consolidated statements of operations and on deferred income taxes in the
consolidated balance sheets.
32
ITEM
8 - FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Our
audited financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2008 and
2007 follow Item 14, beginning at page F-1.
ITEM
9 - CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL
DISCLOSURE
None
ITEM
9A(T) - CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation
of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Management is responsible for
establishing and maintaining effective disclosure controls and procedures. As of
December 31, 2008, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
participated with our management in evaluating the effectiveness of our
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)). Our
disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information
required to be disclosed in the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)
reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed,
summarized and reported within the time period specified by the SEC’s rules and
forms and that such information is accumulated and communicated to management,
including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow
timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In light of the discussion of
material weaknesses set forth below, these officers have concluded that our
disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2008.
To address the material weaknesses described below, we performed additional
analyses and other post-closing procedures to ensure our consolidated financial
statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP). Accordingly, management
believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form
10-K fairly present, in all material respects, our financial condition, result
of operations and cash flows for the periods presented.
Management’s
Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A
company’s internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in
Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) is a process designed by, or
under the supervision of, a public company’s principal executive and principal
financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the
board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable
assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation
of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally
accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) including those policies and procedures
that: (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail
accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of
the company, (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as
necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP,
and that receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with
authorizations of management and directors of the company, and (iii) provide
reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized
acquisition, use or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a
material effect on the financial statements.
33
Management
is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over
financial reporting. Our management, with the participation of our Chief
Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has assessed the effectiveness of
our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008. In making
this assessment, our management used the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission (COSO).
A
material weakness is a control deficiency, or combination of control
deficiencies, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material
misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented
or detected on a timely basis. In connection with management’s assessment of our
internal control over financial reporting described above, management has
identified the following material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control
over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008:
We did
not maintain a sufficient complement of qualified accounting personnel and
controls associated with segregation of duties were ineffective. Due
to unanticipated turnover, during 2008 we had one person on staff that performs
nearly all aspects of our financial reporting process, including but not limited
to access to the underlying accounting records and systems, the ability to post
and record journal entries and responsibility for the preparation of the
financial statements. This creates certain incompatible
duties and a lack of review over the financial reporting process that would
likely fail to detect errors in spreadsheets, calculations, or assumptions used
to compile the financial statements and related disclosures as filed with the
SEC. Specifically, we determined that our controls over the
preparation, review and monitoring of the financial statements were ineffective
to provide reasonable assurance that financial disclosures agreed to appropriate
supporting detail, calculations or other documentation. In addition,
during the preparation of our annual consolidated financial statements, we
determined that certain key assumptions and calculations used in the future cash
flow analysis supporting our asset impairment tests required editing after
submission to our auditors. These edits did not result in audit
adjustments to our December 31, 2008 consolidated financial
statements. These control deficiencies could result in a material
misstatement to our interim or annual consolidated financial statements that
would not be prevented or detected.
Controls
associated with identifying and accounting for complex and non-routine
transactions in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles
were ineffective. Specifically, during the course of the quarterly
interim reviews and the annual audit, audit adjustments were made to adjust the
recorded amounts for certain equity based transactions, including the resulting
impact on our income tax provision and disclosures based on the misapplication
of GAAP by the Company that would have resulted in a material misstatement of
our financial statements.
As a
result of the material weaknesses described above, our management concluded that
as of December 31, 2008, we did not maintain effective internal control over
financial reporting based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated
Framework issued by the COSO.
This
annual report does not include an attestation report of the Company’s registered
public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting.
Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered
public accounting firm pursuant to temporary rules of the Securities and
Exchange Commission that permit the Company to provide only Management’s report
in this annual report.
Plan
for Remediation of Material Weaknesses
In
response to the identified material weaknesses, management, with oversight from
the Company’s audit committee, plans to improve our control environment and to
remedy the identified material weaknesses by expanding the resources available
to the financial reporting process. The Company expects to be
able to address several of deficiencies as a result of its acquisition of a
commercial printing company in December 2008, which will increase the size of
the Company’s accounting department, and allow for the segregation of duties of
certain financial reporting functions. In addition, the Company’s
remediation efforts will include consulting with third party accounting firms
with the appropriate level of expertise to determine the proper application of
GAAP for complex and non-routine transactions.
Notwithstanding
the material weaknesses discussed above, management believes that the financial
statements included in this report present fairly, in all material respects, our
financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods
presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting
principles.
34
Changes
in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There
have been a number of changes made to our internal control over financial
reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the
Securities Exchange Act) during the three months ended December 31, 2008 that
have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our
internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, the Company
added three persons to its accounting staff in December 2008 as the result of
the Company’s acquisition of the assets of a commercial printing
company. The Company began to make procedural and system based
changes to its financial reporting process based on this change designed to
improve its areas of deficiency in the financial reporting process.
35
PART
III
ITEM
10 - DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The
information required by this Item will be contained in the Company’s Proxy
Statement for its Annual Stockholders Meeting, which will be filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2008,
and which is incorporated by reference herein.
We make
available free of charge through the investor relations page of our Web site
(www.documentsecurity.com) our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports, and
all beneficial ownership reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5 filed by directors,
officers and beneficial owners of more than 10% of our equity, as soon as
reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. We have adopted codes of business
conduct and ethics for all of our employees, including our principal executive
officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting
officer. Copies of the codes of business conduct and ethics are
available on our Web site.
Our Web
sites and the information contained therein or incorporated therein are not
intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or our other
filings with the SEC.
ITEM
11 - EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The
information required by this Item will be contained in the Company’s Proxy
Statement for its Annual Stockholders Meeting, which will be filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2008,
and which is incorporated by reference herein.
ITEM
12 - SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED
STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The
information required by this Item will be contained in the Company’s Proxy
Statement for its Annual Stockholders Meeting, which will be filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2008, and
which is incorporated by reference herein.
ITEM
13 - CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR
INDEPENDENCE
The
information required by this Item will be contained in the Company’s Proxy
Statement for its Annual Stockholders Meeting, which will be filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2008, and
which is incorporated by reference herein.
ITEM
14 - PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The
information required by this Item will be contained in the Company’s Proxy
Statement for its Annual Stockholders Meeting, which will be filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2008, and
which is incorporated by reference herein.
ITEM
15 - EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a)
Exhibits
The
Exhibits listed below designated by an * are incorporated by reference to the
filings by Document Security Systems, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933 or
the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as indicated. All other exhibits are
filed herewith.
3.1
|
Certificate
of Incorporation, as amended (incorporated by reference to exhibit 3.1 to
the Company’s Registration Statements No. 2-98684-NY on Form
S-18).*
|
|
3.2
|
By-laws,
as amended (incorporation by reference to exhibit 3.2 to the Company’s
Registration Statement No. 2-98684-NY on Form S-18).*
|
|
3.3 | Certificate of Incorporation, as amended (filed as Exhibit 3.1.1 to Form 8-A12B dated April 19, 2004)* | |
4.1 |
Warrant,
dated December 18, 2008, of Document Security Systems, Inc. issued to Baum
Capital Investments Inc. (filed as exhibit 4.1 to Form 8-K dated December
22, 2008)*
|
|
10.1
|
Agreement
dated November 7, 1996 with Charles M. LaLoggia (incorporated by reference
from Company’s Form 10-Q for March 31, 1997).*
|
|
10.2
|
Agreement
dated July 2, 1996 with Frank LaLoggia (incorporated by reference from
Company’s Form 10-Q for June 30, 1996).*
|
|
10.3
|
Agreement
dated July 31, 2002 between New Sky Communications, Inc. and Patrick White
(incorporated by reference from Company’s Form 8-K filed on August 8,
2002).*
|
36
10.4
|
Agreement
dated July 31, 2002 between New Sky Communications, Inc. and Thomas M.
Wicker (incorporated by reference from Company’s Form 8-K filed on August
8, 2002).*
|
|
10.5
|
Agreement
dated November 1, 2002 between New Sky Communications, Inc. and David
Thomas M. Wicker, Christine Wicker, Kenneth Wicker and Michael Caton
(incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Form 10-KSB for the fiscal
year ended December 31, 2002). *
|
|
10.6
|
Employment
Agreement dated November 1, 2002 between New Sky Communications, Inc. and
David Wicker (incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Form 10-KSB
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002). *
|
|
10.7
|
Form
of Warrant Agreement between the Registrant and Fordham Financial
Management, Inc.(incorporated by reference on Company’s registration
statement on Form S-3 filed on January 20, 2004).*
|
|
10.8
|
Form
of Warrant Agreement between the Registrant and W.A.B. Capital
(incorporated by reference on Company’s registration statement on Form S-3
filed on January 20, 2004).*
|
|
10.9
|
Form
of Warrant Agreement between the Registrant and Howard Safir (incorporated
by reference on Company’s registration statement on Form S-3 filed on
January 20, 2004).*
|
|
10.10
|
Form
of Series A Warrant Agreement issued by the Registrant to participants in
its private placement offering completed on December 29, 2003.
(incorporated by reference on Company’s registration statement on Form S-3
filed on January 20, 2004).*
|
|
10.11
|
Form
of Registration Rights Agreement issued by the Registrant to participants
in its private placement offering completed on December 29, 2003.
(incorporated by reference on Company’s registration statement on Form S-3
filed on January 20, 2004)*
|
|
10.12
|
Form
of Warrant issued to IDT Venture Capital Corporation dated October 31,
2003.(incorporated by reference on Schedule 13D filed by IDT Venture
Capital Corporation dated December 2, 2003)*
|
|
10.13
|
Form
of Securities Purchase Agreement between Registrant and IDT Venture
Capital Corporation dated as of October 31, 2003. (incorporated by
reference on Schedule 13D filed by IDT Venture Capital Corporation dated
December 2, 2003).*
|
|
10.14 (1)
|
Form
of Licensing and Marketing Agreement between Registrant and Boise White
Paper LLC dated January 19, 2005. (redacted version)
|
|
10.15
|
Form
of Surrender and Assignment Agreement dated as of February 25, 2005
between Registrant and the Net Interest Holders. (filed as Exhibit 10.1 to
form 8-K dated February 25, 2005)*
|
|
10.16
|
Form
of Surrender and Assignment Agreement dated as of February 25, 2005
between Registrant and the Gross Interest Holders (filed as Exhibit 10.2
to Form 8-K dated February 25, 2005)*
|
|
10.17
|
Agreement
of Sublease dated May 2004 for the Premises Located at 28 E. Main Street,
Rochester, New York (filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Form 10-QSB for the Quarter
ended June 30, 2004)*
|
|
10.18
|
Form
of Employment Agreement dated as of June 10, 2004 between Registrant and
Patrick White (filed as Exhibit 10.2 to Form 10-QSB for the Quarter ended
June 30, 2005)*
|
|
10.19
|
Form
of Employment Agreement dated as of June 11, 2004 between Registrant and
Thomas Wicker (filed as Exhibit 10.26 of 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2004)*
|
|
10.20
|
Form
of 2004 Employee Stock Option Plan (filed as Appendix D to Proxy Statement
for the Meeting of Stockholders held on December 17,
2004)*
|
|
10.21
|
Form
of Non Executive Director Stock Option Plan (filed as Appendix E to Proxy
Statement for the Meeting of Stockholders held on December 17,
2004)*
|
|
10.22
|
Asset
Purchase Agreement, dated February 7, 2006 by and between the Registrant
and Plastic Printing Professionals, Inc. . (filed as exhibit 10.30 to Form
10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005)*
|
|
10.23
|
Stock
Option Agreement pursuant to the Registrant’s 2004 Employee Stock Option
Plan (filed as exhibit 10.31 to Form S-8 filed May 12,
2006)*
|
|
10.24
|
Warrant
and Amendment to Warrant dated June 16, 2006, granted to International
Barcode Corporation (filed as exhibit 10.33 and 10.34 respectively to Form
10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2007)*
|
|
10.25
|
License
and Distribution Agreement dated November 8, 2006 by and between the
Registrant and PT Sekur Grafika (filed as exhibit 10.30 to Form 10-Q for
the quarter ended June 30, 2007)*
|
|
10.26
|
Form
of Subscription Agreement by and between the Registrant and investors in a
Private Placement (filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Form 8-K/A dated
December 27, 2006)*
|
|
10.27
|
Registration
Rights Agreement dated December 12, 2006 between the Registrant and
Perrin, Holden &Davenport Capital Corp. as agent for those investing
in a Private Placement (filed as Exhibit 10.2 to Form 8-K/A dated December
27, 2006)*
|
|
10.28
|
Form
of Common Stock Purchase Warrant granted pursuant to a Private Placement
(filed as Exhibit 4.1 to Form 8-K/A dated December 27,
2006)*
|
|
10.29
|
Limited
Exclusive Patent License Agreement dated December 29, 2006 between the
Registrant and Ergonomic Group, Inc. (filed as exhibit 10.31 to Form 10-Q
for the quarter ended June 30,
2007)*
|
37
10.30
|
Letter
Agreement dated June 11, 2007 between the Registrant and International
Barcode Corporation (BTI) (filed as exhibit 10.35 to Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended June 30, 2007)*
|
|
10.31
|
License
and Distribution Agreement dated June 27, 2007 by and between the
Registrant and Cultura Interactiva S.A. de C.V. (filed as exhibit 10.32 to
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2007)*
|
|
10.32
|
Credit
Facility Agreement, dated January 4, 2008, between the Registrant and
Fagenson & Co., Inc., as Agent
|
|
10.33
|
Security
Agreement, dated January 4, 2008, between the Registrant and Fagenson
& Co., Inc., as Agent
|
|
10.34
|
Form
of Secured Promissory Note between the Registrant and Fagenson & Co.,
Inc., as Agent
|
|
10.35
|
Credit
Facility Agreement, dated January 4, 2008, between the Registrant and
Patrick White
|
|
10.36
|
Security
Agreement, dated January 4, 2008, between the Registrant and Patrick
White
|
|
10.37
|
Form
of Secured Promissory Note between the Registrant and Patrick
White
|
|
10.38
|
Agreement,
dated April 11, 2008, between the Registrant and Ergonomic Group (filed as
exhibit 10.1 to Form 8-K dated April 11, 2008)*
|
|
10.39
|
Credit
Facility Note, dated May 7, 2008, between the Registrant and Taiko III
Corp. (filed as exhibit 10.1 to Form 8-K dated May 7,
2008)*
|
|
10.40
|
Confidential
Separation Agreement and General Release, dated May 10, 2008, between
Peter Ettinger and the Company (filed as exhibit 10.1 to Form 8-K dated
May 10, 2008)*
|
|
10.41
|
Consulting
Agreement, dated May 12, 2008, between Peter Ettinger and the Company
(filed as exhibit 10.2 to Form 8-K dated May 10, 2008)*
|
|
10.42
|
Share
Purchase Agreement, dated as of June 25, 2008, between the Registrant and
Walton Invesco Inc. (filed as exhibit 10.1 to Form 10-Q for the quarter
ended June 30, 2008)*
|
|
10.43
|
Share
Purchase Agreement, dated as of June 25, 2008, between the Registrant and
Walton Invesco Inc. (filed as exhibit 10.2 to Form 10-Q for the quarter
ended June 30, 2008)*
|
|
10.44
|
Asset
Purchase Agreement, dated as of November 6, 2008, among Secuprint Inc.,
DPI of Rochester, LLC, James Stanley and Matthew Kellman (filed as exhibit
10.1 to Form 8-K dated November 6, 2008)*
|
|
10.45
|
Agreement,
dated August 20, 2008, between Document Security Systems, Inc. and
Trebuchet Capital Partners, LLC (filed as exhibit 10.1 to Form 10-Q for
the quarter ending September 30, 2008)*
|
|
10.46
|
Secured
Promissory Note, dated December 18, 2008, between Document Security
Systems, Inc. , Secuprint Inc. and Baum Capital Investments Inc. (filed as
exhibit 10.2 to Form 8-K dated December 22, 2008)*
|
|
10.47
|
Security
Agreement, dated December 18, 2008, between Secuprint Inc. and Baum
Capital Investments Inc. (filed as exhibit 10.3 to Form 8-K dated December
22, 2008)*
|
|
21
|
Subsidiaries
of Registrant
|
|
23.1
|
Consent
of Freed Maxick & Battaglia, CPAs, PC
|
|
31.1
|
Certification
of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 USC 1350 Section
302
|
|
31.2
|
Certification
Principal Accounting Officer Pursuant to 18 USC 1350 Section
302
|
|
32.1
|
Certification
of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 USC 1350 Section
906
|
|
32.2
|
Certification
Principal Accounting Officer Pursuant to 18 USC 1350 Section
906
|
(1) This
exhibit contains a redacted copy of the agreement. We have filed a
confidentiality request with the Commission with respect to certain portions of
the agreement.
38
DOCUMENT
SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONTENTS
|
Page
|
|||
|
||||
Report of Independent
Registered Public Accounting Firm
|
F-1 | |||
|
||||
Consolidated Financial
Statements:
|
||||
|
||||
Balance
Sheets
|
F-2 | |||
|
||||
Statements
of Operations
|
F-3 | |||
|
||||
Statements
of Cash Flows
|
F-4 | |||
|
||||
Statements
of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity
|
F-5 | |||
|
||||
Notes to the Consolidated
Financial Statements
|
F6 - F27 |
39
REPORT
OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the
Board of Directors and Stockholders
Document
Security Systems, Inc. and Subsidiaries
We have
audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Document Security
Systems, Inc. and Subsidiaries as of December 31, 2008 and 2007, and the related
consolidated statements of operations, cash flows, and changes in stockholders’
equity, for the years then ended. These financial statements are the
responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an
opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
We
conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require
that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether
the financial statements are free of material misstatement. The
Company is not required to have, nor have we been engaged to perform, an audit
of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included
consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for
designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not
for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s
internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly we express no such
opinion. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting
principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as
evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe
that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our
opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly,
in all material respects, the financial position of Document Security Systems,
Inc. and Subsidiaries as of December 31, 2008 and 2007, and the results of its
operations and its cash flows for the years then ended, in conformity with U.S.
generally accepted accounting principles.
/s/ FREED
MAXICK & BATTAGLIA, CPAs, PC
Buffalo,
New York
March 31,
2009
F-1
DOCUMENT
SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated
Balance Sheets
As
of December 31,
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
ASSETS
|
||||||||
Current
assets:
|
||||||||
Cash
and cash equivalents
|
$ | 87,820 | $ | 742,468 | ||||
Restricted
cash
|
131,004 | - | ||||||
Accounts
receivable, net of allowance of $50,000 ($82,000-
2007)
|
1,284,208 | 617,320 | ||||||
Inventory
|
359,034 | 259,442 | ||||||
Loans
to employees
|
67,781 | 120,732 | ||||||
Prepaid
expenses and other current assets
|
75,066 | 487,715 | ||||||
Total
current assets
|
2,004,913 | 2,227,677 | ||||||
Restricted
cash
|
- | 177,345 | ||||||
Fixed
assets, net
|
1,517,357 | 1,494,540 | ||||||
Other
assets
|
264,529 | 147,958 | ||||||
Goodwill
|
1,396,734 | 1,396,734 | ||||||
Other
intangible assets, net
|
2,873,789 | 6,149,530 | ||||||
Total
assets
|
$ | 8,057,322 | $ | 11,593,784 | ||||
LIABILITIES
AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
|
||||||||
Current
liabilities:
|
||||||||
Accounts
payable
|
$ | 1,411,942 | $ | 1,795,085 | ||||
Accrued
expenses & other current liabilities
|
1,312,745 | 818,606 | ||||||
Deferred
revenue & customer deposits
|
30,193 | 732,355 | ||||||
Short-term
debt, net of discount of $247,000
|
652,511 | - | ||||||
Current
portion of capital lease obligations
|
78,367 | 79,948 | ||||||
Total
current liabilities
|
3,485,758 | 3,425,994 | ||||||
Revolving
notes from related parties
|
2,283,000 | 300,000 | ||||||
Capital
lease obligations
|
210,365 | 294,821 | ||||||
Deferred
revenue
|
- | 15,938 | ||||||
Deferred
tax liability
|
51,878 | 200,000 | ||||||
Commitments
and contingencies (see Note 13)
|
||||||||
Stockholders'
equity
|
||||||||
Common
stock, $.02 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized, 14,369,764
shares issued and outstanding (13,654,364 in 2007) (325,000 subscribed in
2008)
|
287,395 | 273,087 | ||||||
Additional
paid-in capital
|
35,538,695 | 31,298,571 | ||||||
Subscriptions
receivable
|
(1,300,000 | ) | - | |||||
Accumulated
deficit
|
(32,499,769 | ) | (24,214,627 | ) | ||||
Total
stockholders' equity
|
2,026,321 | 7,357,031 | ||||||
Total
liabilities and stockholders' equity
|
$ | 8,057,322 | $ | 11,593,784 |
See
accompanying notes.
F-2
Consolidated
Statements of Operations
For the
Years Ended December 31,
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Revenue
|
||||||||
Security
and commercial printing
|
$ | 4,386,552 | $ | 3,912,789 | ||||
Technology
license royalties
|
1,613,768 | 1,195,146 | ||||||
Digital
solutions
|
32,880 | 201,210 | ||||||
Legal
products
|
609,807 | 682,051 | ||||||
Total
Revenue
|
6,643,007 | 5,991,196 | ||||||
Costs
of revenue
|
||||||||
Security
and commercial printing
|
2,663,309 | 2,465,898 | ||||||
Digital
solutions
|
14,028 | 44,028 | ||||||
Legal
products
|
351,769 | 353,914 | ||||||
Total
costs of revenue
|
3,029,106 | 2,863,840 | ||||||
Gross
profit
|
3,613,901 | 3,127,356 | ||||||
Operating
expenses:
|
||||||||
Selling,
general and administrative
|
7,431,313 | 7,974,312 | ||||||
Research
and development
|
432,550 | 420,063 | ||||||
Impairment
of patent defense costs and other intangible assets
|
797,143 | - | ||||||
Amortization
of intangibles
|
1,972,233 | 1,754,017 | ||||||
Operating
expenses
|
10,633,239 | 10,148,392 | ||||||
Operating
loss
|
(7,019,338 | ) | (7,021,036 | ) | ||||
Other
income (expense):
|
||||||||
Interest
income
|
658 | 93,397 | ||||||
Loss
on foreign currency transactions
|
(59,094 | ) | (23,519 | ) | ||||
Interest
expense and amortization of note discount
|
(144,533 | ) | (5,108 | ) | ||||
Loss
on sale of patent assets
|
(1,169,947 | ) | - | |||||
Other
Income
|
126,073 | - | ||||||
Loss
from continuing operations before income taxes
|
(8,266,181 | ) | (6,956,266 | ) | ||||
Income
tax expense
|
18,961 | 19,003 | ||||||
Loss
from continuing operations
|
(8,285,142 | ) | (6,975,269 | ) | ||||
Loss
from discontinued operations (Note 9)
|
||||||||
Gain
on sale of discontinued assets
|
- | 42,906 | ||||||
Loss
from discontinued operations
|
- | (54,467 | ) | |||||
Loss
on discontinued operations
|
- | (11,561 | ) | |||||
Net
loss
|
$ | (8,285,142 | ) | $ | (6,986,830 | ) | ||
Net
loss per share -basic and diluted:
|
||||||||
Continuing
operations
|
$ | (0.59 | ) | $ | (0.51 | ) | ||
Discontinued
operations
|
(0.00 | ) | 0.00 | |||||
Net
Loss
|
$ | (0.59 | ) | $ | (0.51 | ) | ||
Weighted
average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted
|
14,002,034 | 13,629,877 |
See
accompanying notes.
F-3
DOCUMENT
SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated
Statements of Cash Flows
For
The Years Ended December 31,
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Cash
flows from operating activities:
|
||||||||
Net
loss
|
$ | (8,285,142 | ) | $ | (6,986,830 | ) | ||
Adjustments
to reconcile net loss to net cash used by operating
activities:
|
||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
2,288,061 | 1,945,119 | ||||||
Stock
based compensation
|
1,747,368 | 1,354,742 | ||||||
Impairment
of patent defense costs and other intangible assets
|
797,143 | - | ||||||
Amortization
of note discount
|
8,227 | - | ||||||
Net
gain on disposal of discontinued operations
|
- | (42,906 | ) | |||||
Loss
on sale of patent assets
|
1,169,947 | - | ||||||
Decrease
in restricted cash for foreign currency loss
|
46,341 | - | ||||||
(Increase)
decrease in assets:
|
||||||||
Accounts
receivable
|
209,399 | 1,302 | ||||||
Inventory
|
(32,342 | ) | (20,026 | ) | ||||
Prepaid
expenses and other assets
|
(36,653 | ) | (65,291 | ) | ||||
Increase
(decrease) in liabilities:
|
||||||||
Accounts
payable
|
31,096 | 629,792 | ||||||
Accrued
expenses and other liabilities
|
383,884 | 247,797 | ||||||
Deferred
revenue
|
(718,100 | ) | (283,021 | ) | ||||
Net
cash used by operating activities
|
(2,390,771 | ) | (3,219,322 | ) | ||||
Cash
flows from investing activities:
|
||||||||
Purchase
of fixed assets
|
(334,800 | ) | (759,538 | ) | ||||
Proceeds
from the sale of discontinued operations
|
- | 80,000 | ||||||
Restricted
cash -patent litigation guarantee
|
- | (177,345 | ) | |||||
Acquisition
of business
|
(1,082,537 | ) | - | |||||
Proceeds
from the sale of patent assets
|
500,000 | - | ||||||
Purchase
of other intangible assets
|
(1,348,666 | ) | (1,083,619 | ) | ||||
Net
cash used by investing activities
|
(2,266,003 | ) | (1,940,502 | ) | ||||
Cash
flows from financing activities:
|
||||||||
Borrowing
on short-term credit facility
|
500,000 | - | ||||||
Repayment
on short-term credit facility
|
(500,000 | ) | - | |||||
Borrowing
on revolving note- related parties
|
1,983,000 | 300,000 | ||||||
Borrowings
on short term debt
|
900,000 | - | ||||||
Repayments
of capital lease obligations
|
(86,037 | ) | (35,929 | ) | ||||
Payment
of stock issuance costs
|
- | (519,619 | ) | |||||
Issuance
of common stock
|
1,205,163 | 355,225 | ||||||
Net
cash provided by financing activities
|
4,002,126 | 99,677 | ||||||
Net
decrease in cash and cash equivalents
|
(654,648 | ) | (5,060,147 | ) | ||||
Cash
and cash equivalents beginning of year
|
742,468 | 5,802,615 | ||||||
Cash
and cash equivalents end of year
|
$ | 87,820 | $ | 742,468 |
See
accompanying notes.
F-4
Consolidated
Statements of Changes in Stockholders' Equity
For
the Years Ended December 31, 2008 and 2007
Common
Stock
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares
|
Amount
|
Additional
Paid-
in
Capital
|
Subscriptions
Receivable
|
Accumulated Deficit
|
Total
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Balance,
December 31, 2006
|
13,544,724 | $ | 270,894 | $ | 28,145,793 | $ | - | (17,227,797 | ) | $ | 11,188,890 | |||||||||||||
Shares
issued upon the exercise of warrants and options
|
12,125 | 243 | 54,983 | - | - | 55,226 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stock
issued for patent defense costs
|
60,866 | 1,217 | 744,858 | - | - | 746,075 | ||||||||||||||||||
Issuance
of common stock and warrants through private placement,
net
|
35,280 | 706 | 272,294 | - | - | 273,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stock
based payments, net of tax effect
|
1,369 | 27 | 2,080,643 | - | - | 2,080,670 | ||||||||||||||||||
Net
loss
|
- | - | - | - | (6,986,830 | ) | (6,986,830 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Balance,
December 31, 2007
|
13,654,364 | $ | 273,087 | $ | 31,298,571 | $ | - | (24,214,627 | ) | $ | 7,357,031 | |||||||||||||
Stock
Issued upon the exercise of warrants and options
|
50,000 | 1,000 | 99,000 | - | - | 100,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stock
based payments, net of tax effect
|
65,400 | 1,308 | 1,497,407 | - | - | 1,498,715 | ||||||||||||||||||
Warrants
issued with debt
|
- | - | 255,717 | - | - | 255,717 | ||||||||||||||||||
Issuance
of common stock, net
|
600,000 | 12,000 | 2,388,000 | (1,300,000 | ) | - | 1,100,000 | |||||||||||||||||
Net
Loss
|
- | - | - | - | (8,285,142 | ) | (8,285,142 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Balance,
December 31, 2008
|
14,369,764 | $ | 287,395 | $ | 35,538,695 | $ | (1,300,000 | ) | (32,499,769 | ) | $ | 2,026,321 |
See
accompanying notes.
F-5
DOCUMENT
SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NOTES
TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE
1. - DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
Document
Security Systems, Inc. (the “Company”), a New York corporation, and its
subsidiaries, primarily operates in the security and commercial printing
markets. The Company develops, patents, markets produces and licenses
technology that prevents documents from unauthorized copying, scanning and
counterfeiting. The Company’s customers include
governments, law enforcement agencies, security printers, check and forms
printers and corporations. In addition, the Company, through its consolidated
subsidiary, Lester Levin, Inc., sells supplies to the legal
industry.
NOTE
2. - SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Principles of
Consolidation - The consolidated financial statements include the
accounts of Document Security Systems, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All
intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in
consolidation.
Use of
Estimates - The preparation of consolidated financial statements in
conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States
requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported
and disclosed in the financial statements and the accompanying notes. Actual
results could differ materially from these estimates. On an ongoing basis, we
evaluate our estimates, including those related to the accounts receivable, fair
values of intangible assets and goodwill, useful lives of intangible assets and
property and equipment, fair values of options and warrants to purchase our
common stock, deferred revenue and income taxes, among others. We base our
estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are
believed to be reasonable, the results of which form the basis for making
judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities. We engage
third-party valuation consultants to assist management in the allocation of the
purchase price of significant acquisitions.
Reclassifications
- Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current
year presentation.
Cash and Cash
Equivalents – The Company maintains its cash in bank deposit accounts
and, from time to time, short term Certificates of Deposits with original
maturities of three months or less. For financial statement
presentation purposes, the Company considers those short-term, highly liquid
investments with original maturities of three months or less to be cash or cash
equivalents.
Restricted
Cash - In
July 2007, the Company established a restricted cash balance of 87,500 British
pounds, (approximately $131,000 as of December 31, 2008), as collateral for
a deed of guarantee that was required by the English Court of Appeals in order
for the Company to pursue an appeal in that court. On March 19, 2008, the
Company was notified that its appeal was denied and that the Company owed the
European Central Bank, the successful party in the appeal, the 87,500 British
pounds. On May 14, 2008, the Company made a payment of 87,500 British
pounds to the European Central Bank as an interim payment of the appeal costs
pending final assessment by the Court which is expected in the latter half of
2009. The Company will use the restricted funds to pay
additional fees due upon final assessment of the costs by the Court, if
any. (See Note 13 Commitments and Contingencies)
Accounts
Receivable - The Company carries its trade accounts receivable at invoice
amount less an allowance for doubtful accounts. On a periodic basis, the
Company evaluates its accounts receivable and establishes an allowance for
doubtful accounts based upon management’s estimates that include a review of the
history of past write-offs and collections and an analysis of current credit
conditions. At December 31, 2008 the Company established a reserve for
doubtful accounts of approximately $50,000 ($82,000 – 2007). The Company
does not accrue interest on past due accounts receivable.
Inventory
- Inventories consist primarily of paper, plastic materials and cards,
pre-printed security paper, and legal supplies held for resale and are stated at
the lower of cost or market on the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”)
method.
F-6
Fixed
Assets - Fixed
assets are recorded at cost. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line
method over the estimated useful lives or lease period of the assets whichever
is shorter. Expenditures for renewals and betterments are capitalized.
Expenditures for minor items, repairs and maintenance are charged to operations
as incurred. Any gain or loss upon sale or retirement due to obsolescence
is reflected in the operating results in the period the event takes
place.
Goodwill -
Goodwill is the excess of cost of an acquired entity over the fair value of
amounts assigned to assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business
combination. With the adoption of SFAS No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible
Assets,” goodwill is not amortized, rather it is tested for impairment annually,
and will be tested for impairment between annual tests if an event occurs or
circumstances change that would indicate the carrying amount may be impaired.
Impairment testing for goodwill is done at a reporting unit level. Reporting
units are one level below the business segment level, but are combined when
reporting units within the same segment have similar economic characteristics.
Under the criteria set forth by SFAS No. 142, the Company has three reporting
units based on the current structure. An impairment loss generally would
be recognized when the carrying amount of the reporting unit’s net assets
exceeds the estimated fair value of the reporting unit. The Company
performs annual assessments and has determined that no impairment is
necessary.
Other Intangible
Assets, Patent Defense Costs and Patent
Application Costs– Intangible assets
consists of costs associated with the application, acquisition and defense of
the Company’s patents, contractual rights to patents and trade secrets
associated with the Company’s technologies, a non-exclusive licensing agreement,
and customer lists obtained as a result of acquisitions. The Company’s patents
and trade secrets are for document anti-counterfeiting and anti-scanning
technologies and processes that form the basis of the Company’s document
security business. Patent application costs are capitalized and
amortized over the estimated useful life of the patent, which generally
approximates its legal life. External legal costs incurred to defend
the Company’s patents are capitalized to the extent of an evident increase in
the value of the patents and an expected successful outcome, in accordance to
guidance provided by FASB Concept Statement No. 6 and related guidance in AICPA
Technical Questions and Answers, Section 2260, Other Assets, paragraph .03,
“Legal Expenses Incurred to Defend Patent Infringement Suit”. Patent defense costs are
expensed at the point when it is determined that the outcome is expected to be
unsuccessful. The Company capitalizes the cost of an appeal
until it is determined that the appeal will be
unsuccessful. The Company’s capitalized patent
defense costs expenses are analyzed for impairment based on the expected
eventual outcome of the legal action and recoverability of proceeds or added
economic value of the patent in excess of the
costs. Legal actions related to the same patent defense
case are unified into one asset group for the purposes on the impairment
analysis. The
Company considers patent related amortization expense as an operating expense.
The Company believes that the decision to incur patent costs is discretionary as
the associated products or services can be sold prior to or during the
application process. The Company accounts for other intangible
amortization as an operating expense, unless the underlying asset in directly
associated with the production or delivery of a product. To date, the amount
of related amortization expense for other intangible assets directly
attributable to revenue recognized is not material.
Impairment
of Long-Lived Assets -
The Company accounts for long-lived assets in accordance with the
provisions of SFAS No. 144, Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of
Long-Lived Assets. This statement requires that long-lived assets and
certain identifiable intangibles be reviewed for impairment whenever events or
changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not
be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is
measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to future net
undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by the asset including its
ultimate disposition. If such assets are considered to be impaired,
the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying
amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets. Fair value
is determined based on discounted cash flows or appraised values, depending on
the nature of the assets. In December 2008, the Company
recorded an impairment $361,000 for a license agreement the Company had acquired
in 2006 for which the Company assessed that the probable future cash flows
expected to be derived from the license did not support the net carrying value
of the license as of December 31, 2008. On March
19, 2008, the Company received notification that its appeal of the invalidation
of its European Patent 455750B1 in the UK was not successful. As
result of the adverse court decision, the Company recognized an impairment loss
of $292,000 associated with costs directly related to the U.K appeal as of March
31, 2008. The impairment loss includes a judgment for reimbursement
of estimated counterpart legal fees. In January, 2009, the Company
received a formal request for fee reimbursement from the ECB for a total of
$420,000 in additon to amounts already paid by the Company. The
Company hired an independent firm to assist the Company in reducing or
eliminating the ECB’s fees request, however, the Company recorded
$145,000 as additional accrued expenses and an impairment loss as of December
31, 2008. The Company expect that the UK fee issue will be
resolved in second half of 2009.
Fair Value of
Financial Instruments - Statements of Financial Accounting Standards No.
107, “Disclosures about Fair Value of Financial Instruments,” requires
disclosure of fair value information about financial instruments. Fair value
estimates discussed herein are based upon certain market assumptions and
pertinent information available to management as of December 31,
2008.
These
financial instruments include cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable,
accounts payable and accrued expenses, revolving note payable and capital
leases. Fair values were assumed to approximate carrying values for these
financial instruments since they are short-term in nature and their carrying
amounts approximate fair values or they are receivable or payable on demand. The
fair value of the Company’s capitalized lease obligations and revolving note
payable is estimated based upon the quoted market prices for the same or similar
issues or on the current rates offered to the Company for debt of the same
remaining maturities. The carrying value approximates the fair value of these
debt instruments in 2008 and 2007.
F-7
Share-Based
Payments - The Company accounts for stock option awards granted under the
Company’s Stock Incentive Plans in accordance with Statement of Financial
Accounting Standard No. 123 (revised 2004), “Share-Based Payment”, (“SFAS
123(R)”). Under SFAS 123R, compensation expense related to stock based payments
are recorded over the requisite service period based on the grant date fair
value of the awards. The Company uses the Black-Scholes option
pricing model for determining the estimated fair value for stock-based awards.
The Black-Scholes model requires the use of assumptions which determine the fair
value of stock-based awards, including the option’s expected term and the price
volatility of the underlying stock.
The
Company’s accounting policy for equity instruments issued to consultants and
vendors in exchange for goods and services follows the provisions of EITF 96-18,
“Accounting for Equity Instruments That are Issued to Other Than Employees for
Acquiring, or in Conjunction with Selling, Goods or Services” and EITF 00-18,
“Accounting Recognition for Certain Transactions Involving Equity Instruments
Granted to Other Than Employees.” The measurement date for the fair value of the
equity instruments issued is determined at the earlier of (i) the date at
which a commitment for performance by the consultant or vendor is reached or
(ii) the date at which the consultant or vendor’s performance is complete.
In the case of equity instruments issued to consultants, the fair value of the
equity instrument is recognized over the term of the consulting
agreement
Revenue
Recognition - Sales of
security and commercial printing products, and legal products are recognized
when a product or service is delivered, shipped or provided to the customer and
all material conditions relating to the sale have been substantially
performed.
For
digital solutions sales, revenue is recognized in accordance with the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountant's Statement of Position (SOP) No. 97-2,
"Software Revenue Recognition," as modified by SOP No. 98-9, "Modification of
SOP No. 97-2, Software Revenue Recognition with Respect to Certain Transactions"
and Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 104, "Revenue
Recognition." Accordingly, revenue is recognized when all of
the following conditions are satisfied: (1) there is persuasive
evidence of an arrangement; (2) the service or product has been provided to the
customer; (3) the amount of fees to be paid by the customer is fixed or
determinable (4) the collection of our fees is reasonably assured.
The
Company also enters into arrangements under which hosted software applications
are provided. Revenue is recognized for these arrangements based on the
provisions of EITF No. 00-3, Application of AICPA SOP 97-2 to Arrangements That
Include the Right to Use Software Stored on Another Entity’s Hardware (“EITF
00-3”), and the provisions of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 104, “Revenue
Recognition in Financial Statements”, when there is persuasive evidence of an
arrangement, collection of the resulting receivable is probable, the fee is
fixed or determinable and acceptance has occurred. Revenues related to these
arrangements consist of system implementation service fees and software
subscription fees. System implementation services represent set-up services that
do not qualify as separate units of accounting from the software subscriptions
as the customer would not purchase these services without the purchase of the
software subscription. As a result, revenue is recognized on system
implementation fees ratably over a period of time from when the core system
implementation services are completed and accepted by the customer over the
remaining customer relationship life, which is the contractual life of the
customer’s subscription agreement. Software subscription fees, which typically
commence upon completion of the related system implementation, are recognized
ratably over the applicable subscription period. Amounts billed and/or collected
prior to satisfying our revenue recognition policy are reflected as deferred
revenue.
The
Company recognizes revenue from technology licenses once all the following
criteria for revenue recognition have been met: (1) persuasive evidence of an
agreement exists; (2) the right and ability to use the product or technology has
been rendered; (3) the fee is fixed and determinable and not subject to refund
or adjustment; and (4) collection of the amounts due is reasonably
assured.
Advertising
Costs– Generally consist of online, keyword advertising with Google with
additional amounts spent on certain print media in targeted industry
publications. Advertising
costs were $42,000 in 2008 ($93,000 – 2007).
Research and
Development– Research and development costs are expensed as incurred as
defined in SFAS No. 2, Accounting for Research and
Development Costs.
Foreign
Currency-. Net gains and losses resulting from transactions denominated
in foreign currency are recorded as other income or loss.
Income
Taxes - The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 109, “Accounting for Income
Taxes,” (“SFAS 109”), which requires recognition of estimated income taxes
payable or refundable on income tax returns for the current year and for the
estimated future tax effect attributable to temporary differences and
carry-forwards. Measurement of deferred income items is based on enacted tax
laws including tax rates, with the measurement of deferred income tax assets
being reduced by available tax benefits not expected to be
realized. We recognize penalties and accrued interest related to
unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense.
F-8
Earnings Per
Common Share - The Company has adopted the provisions of Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards No. 128 “Earnings per Share” (“SFAS 128”), which
requires the presentation of basic and diluted earnings per
share. Basic earnings per share reflects the actual weighted average
of shares issued and outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share
are computed including the number of additional shares that would have been
outstanding if dilutive potential shares had been issued. In a loss year, the
calculation for basic and diluted earnings per share is considered to be the
same, as the impact of potential common shares is anti-dilutive.
If the
Company had generated earnings during the year ended December 31, 2008,
376,239 (674,050 – 2007) common equivalent shares would
have been added to the weighted average shares outstanding to compute the
diluted weighted average shares outstanding.
Concentration of
Credit Risk - The Company maintains its cash and cash equivalents in bank
deposit accounts, which at times may exceed federally insured limits. The
Company believes it is not exposed to any significant credit risk as a result of
any non-performance by the financial institutions.
During
2008, two customers accounted for 11% and 10% of the Company’s total revenue
from continuing operations, respectively. As of December 31, 2008,
one customer account receivable balance that was acquired as part of the
Company’s acquisition of the assets of a commercial printer in December 2008,
accounted for 42% of the Company’s trade accounts receivable
balance. During 2007, one customer accounted for 13% of the Company’s
total revenue from continuing operations. As of December 31, 2007,
one customer accounted for 16% of the Company’s trade accounts receivable
balance. The risk with respect to trade receivables is mitigated by
credit evaluations we perform on our customers, the short duration of our
payment terms for the significant majority of our customer contracts and by the
diversification of our customer base.
Recent Accounting
Pronouncements – In
September 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No.157, Fair Value Measurements.
SFAS No. 157, as amended, defines fair value, establishes a framework for
measuring fair value in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States of America, and expands disclosures about fair value
measurements. With respect to financial assets and liabilities, SFAS No. 157 is
effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after
November 15, 2007. However, in February 2008, the FASB determined that
an entity need not apply this standard to nonfinancial assets and liabilities
that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a
nonrecurring basis until 2009. Accordingly, the Company’s adoption of this
standard on January 1, 2008, is limited to financial assets and
liabilities and did not have a material effect on the Company’s financial
condition or results of operations. The Company is still in the process of
evaluating the impact of this standard with respect to its effect on
nonfinancial assets and liabilities and has not yet determined the impact that
it will have on the consolidated financial statements upon full
adoption.
In
February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159, The Fair Value Option for Financial
Assets and Financial Liabilities, which permits entities to choose to
measure certain financial assets and liabilities at fair value. SFAS No. 159 is
effective for years beginning after November 15, 2007. The Company has
not adopted the fair value option method permitted by SFAS No.
159.
In
December 2007, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards No. 141 (revised 2007), “Business Combinations” (“SFAS
141R”), which replaces SFAS 141. SFAS 141R establishes principles and
requirements for how an acquirer in a business combination recognizes and
measures in its financial statements the identifiable assets acquired, the
liabilities assumed, and any controlling interest; recognizes and measures the
goodwill acquired in the business combination or a gain from a bargain purchase;
and determines what information to disclose to enable users of the financial
statements to evaluate the nature and financial effects of the business
combination. SFAS 141R is to be applied prospectively to business combinations
for which the acquisition date is on or after an entity’s fiscal year that
begins after December 15, 2008. The Company is currently
evaluating the potential impact of the adoption of SFAS 141R
on the consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash
flows.
In
December 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 160, Noncontrolling Interests in
Consolidated Financial Statements-on Amendment of ARB No. 51. SFAS No.
160 establishes accounting and reporting standards for the noncontrolling
interest in a subsidiary. SFAS No. 160 is effective for financial statements
issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008, and interim
statements within those fiscal years. Among other things, SFAS No. 160 requires
noncontrolling interest to be included as a component of shareholders’ equity.
The Company does not currently have any noncontrolling
interests.
F-9
On
December 21, 2007, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 110,
“Share-Based Payment”. SAB No. 110 addresses the use of a “simplified”
method in developing an estimate of expected term of “plain vanilla” share
options in accordance SFAS No. 123(R), “Share-Based Payment”. SAB
No. 110 allows the use of the “simplified” method of estimating expected
term where a company may not have sufficient historical exercise data. SAB
No. 110 is effective January 1, 2008 and the Company plans to
continue to use the simplified method to estimate the expected term of its plain
vanilla employee options.
On
December 12, 2007, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) ratified the
Emerging Issues Task Force (“EITF”) opinion related to EITF Issue 07-1,
“Accounting for Collaborative Arrangements.” The Task Force reached a consensus
that a collaborative arrangement is a contractual arrangement that involves two
or more parties, all of which are both (a) involved as active participants in a
joint operating activity that is not conducted primarily through a separate
legal entity and (b) exposed to significant risks and rewards that depend on the
commercial success of the joint operating activity. This Issue also addresses
(i) the income statement classification by participants in a collaborative
arrangement for transactions with third parties and transactions between the
participants and (ii) financial statement disclosures. The consensus on EITF
Issue 07-1 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008, and
for interim periods within those fiscal years. Entities should apply the
consensus retrospectively to all periods presented for only those collaborative
arrangements existing as of the effective date, unless it is impractical to do
so. The Company will adopt this new accounting pronouncement effective January
1, 2009, and does not anticipate any material impact on its financial condition
or results of operations.
In
April 2008, the FASB issued FSP FAS 142-3, “Determination of Useful Life of
Intangible Assets” (“FSP FAS 142-3”). FSP FAS 142-3 amends the factors that
should be considered in developing the renewal or extension assumptions used to
determine the useful life of a recognized intangible asset under FAS 142,
“Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets.” FSP FAS 142-3 also requires expanded
disclosure related to the determination of intangible asset useful lives. FSP
FAS 142-3 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008.
The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact the adoption of FAS FSP
142-3 will have on its financial statements.
In
May 2008, the FASB issued FASB Staff Position (“FSP”) APB 14-1, “Accounting
for Convertible Debt Instruments That May Be Settled in Cash upon Conversion
(Including Partial Cash Settlement)” (“FSP APB 14-1”), which clarifies the
accounting for convertible debt instruments that may be settled in cash upon
conversion, including partial cash settlement. FSP APB 14-1 specifies that an
issuer of such instruments should separately account for the liability and
equity components of the instruments in a manner that reflect the issuer’s
non-convertible debt borrowing rate when interest costs are recognized in
subsequent periods. FSP APB 14-1 is effective for fiscal years beginning after
December 15, 2008, and retrospective application is required for all
periods presented. The Company believes that the adoption of this standard on
its effective date will not have a material effect on the consolidated financial
statements
In May
2008, the FASB issued SFAS No. 162, The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles. The purpose of this statement is to improve financial
reporting by providing a consistent framework for determining applicable
accounting principles to be used in the preparation of financial statements
presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States of America. SFAS No. 162 will become effective 60 days after the
SEC’s approval. The Company believes that the adoption of this standard on its
effective date will not have a material effect on the consolidated financial
statements
In June
2008, the FASB issued FSP EITF 03-6-1 to address whether instruments granted in
share-based payment transactions are participating securities prior to their
vesting and therefore need to be included in the earnings per share calculation
under the two-class method described in SFAS No. 128, “Earnings per
Share.” This FSP requires companies to treat unvested share-based
payment awards that have non-forfeitable rights to dividends or dividend
equivalents as participating securities and thus, include them in calculation of
basic earnings per share. FSP EITF 03-6-1 is effective for fiscal
years beginning after December 15, 2008. The Company does not
anticipate a material impact on its financial statements or its computation of
basic earnings per share upon adoption.
In June
2008, the FASB ratified EITF" Issue No. 07-05, Determining Whether an Instrument
(or Embedded Feature) Is Indexed to an Entity's Own Stock. EITF No.
07-05 clarifies the determination of whether an instrument (or an embedded
feature) is indexed to an entity's own stock, which would qualify as a scope
exception under SFAS No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging
Activities. EITF No. 07-05 is effective for financial statements issued for
fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008. Early adoption for an existing
instrument is not permitted. The Company believes that the adoption of this
standard on its effective date will not have a material effect on the
consolidated financial statements
During
the quarter ended June 30 2008, the Company adopted FSP 00-19-2, Accounting
for Registration Payment Arrangements. This FSP specifies that the
contingent obligation to make future payments or otherwise transfer
consideration under a registration payment arrangement, whether issued as a
separate agreement or included as a provision of a financial instrument or other
agreement, should be separately recognized and measured in accordance with FASB
Statement No. 5, Accounting for Contingencies. The Company has
determined it to be remote, that it will be required to remit payments to the
investors for failing to obtain an effective registration statement on or before
the required time frame.
F-10
NOTE
3. – INVENTORY
Inventory
consisted of the following:
December
31,
|
December
31,
|
|||||||
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Finished
Goods
|
$ | 137,972 | $ | 161,978 | ||||
Work
in process
|
120,713 | 6,086 | ||||||
Raw
Materials
|
100,349 | 91,378 | ||||||
$ | 359,034 | $ | 259,442 |
NOTE
4. - FIXED ASSETS
Fixed
assets consisted of the following at December 31:
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||||||||||||
Estimated
Useful
Life
|
Purchased
|
Under
Capital
Leases
|
Purchased
|
Under
Capital
Leases
|
||||||||||||||
Machinery
& equipment
|
5-7
years
|
$ | 770,672 | $ | 484,936 | $ | 602,817 | $ | 484,936 | |||||||||
Leasehold
improvements
|
up
to 13 years (1)
|
727,339 | - | 574,938 | - | |||||||||||||
Furniture
& fixtures
|
7
years
|
90,952 | - | 87,721 | - | |||||||||||||
Software
& websites
|
3
years
|
258,744 | - | 243,586 | - | |||||||||||||
Total
cost
|
$ | 1,847,707 | $ | 484,936 | $ | 1,509,062 | $ | 484,936 | ||||||||||
Less
accumulated depreciation
|
610,267 | 205,019 | 387,204 | 112,254 | ||||||||||||||
Net
|
$ | 1,237,440 | $ | 279,917 | $ | 1,121,858 | $ | 372,682 |
(1)
Expiration of lease term
On
September 25, 2007, the Company sold certain assets and the operations of its
retail copying and quickprinting operations to an unrelated third
party. The sale included fixed assets with a net book value of
approximately $37,000. The Company recognized a gain on the sale of
approximately $43,000 (See Note 9). Depreciation expense for assets under
capital leases was approximately $93,000 for the year ended December 31, 2008
($34,000 – 2007).
NOTE
5. - INTANGIBLE ASSETS
Goodwill -
In accordance with the provisions of SFAS No. 142, “Goodwill and Other
Intangible Assets” (SFAS 142), the Company performs an annual fair value test of
its recorded goodwill for its reporting units using a discounted cash flow and
capitalization of earnings approach. As of December 31, 2008,
the Company’s goodwill of approximately $1,397,000 consists of approximately
$81,000 attributable to the legal segment and approximately $1,316,000
attributable to the document security products and printing
segment. There was no goodwill recorded by the Company as a
result of the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of DPI of
Rochester, LLC in December 2008.
Other Intangible
Assets - Other intangible assets consists of costs associated with the
application, acquisition and defense of our patents, contractual rights to
patents and trade secrets associated with our technologies, a non-exclusive
licensing agreement, and customer lists obtained as a result of acquisitions.
Our patents and trade secrets are for document anti-counterfeiting and
anti-scanning technologies and processes that form the basis of our document
security business.
F-11
In
February 2006, the Company acquired intangible assets associated with its
acquisitions of the assets of Plastic Printing Professional. These
intangible assets were valued at $625,000 by an independent valuation firm and
consist of customer lists, trade name and brand, and a non-compete
agreement.
In June,
2007, the Company entered into an agreement with International Barcode
Technologies, also known as BTI, to extend the expiration date of warrants to
purchase 500,000 shares of common stock of the Company at a purchase price of
$10.00 per share from June 16, 2007 to December 31, 2007. In
exchange, BTI has agreed to provide the Company with a non-exclusive license to
market and produce BTI’s advanced barcode technologies in the United States for
five years. The value of the extension of the warrant was
determined to be approximately $521,000 using the Black-Scholes option pricing
model. This amount was recorded as an other intangible asset and was
being amortized over the expected useful life of the license agreement of five
years. In December 2008, the Company recorded an impairment
of $361,000 for the carrying value of this license agreement for which the
Company assessed that the probable future cash flows expected to be derived from
the license did not support the net carrying value of the license as of December
31, 2008.
Patent
Acquisition and Defense Costs-
Included
in its capitalized patent defense costs are costs associated with the
acquisition of certain rights associated with patents that the Company is
defending. In December 2004, the Company entered into an agreement
with the Wicker Family, in which Document Security Systems obtained the legal
ownership of technology (including patent ownership rights) previously held by
the Wicker Family. At that time, the agreement with the Wicker Family
provided that the Company would retain 70% of the future economic benefit
derived from settlements, licenses or subsequent business arrangements from any
infringer of the Wicker patents that Document Security Systems chooses to
pursue. The Wicker Family was to receive the remaining 30% of such
economic benefit. In February 2005, the Company further consolidated
its ownership of the Wicker Family based patents and its rights to the economic
benefit of infringement settlements when the Company purchased economic
interests and legal ownership from approximately 45 persons and entities that
had purchased various rights in Wicker Family technologies prior to 2002.
The Company issued an aggregate of 541,460 shares of its Common Stock for the
rights of the interest holders and secured 100% ownership of a US Patent and
approximately 16% of additional economic rights to settlements with infringers
of the Wicker Family’s foreign patents. The value of the shares of
Common Stock was determined based upon the closing price of the shares of the
Company’s Common Stock on the American Stock Exchange on February 15, 2005 of
$7.25 per share. The total aggregate fair value of the acquisition, net of
expenses, of the interests from the interest holders was
$3,905,672.
Patent
defense costs are comprised of legal cost associated with our patent
infringement suit against the European Central Bank (“ECB
Litigation”). We based our decision to defer the costs associated
with this case on the principal that successful patent defense costs are
capitalizable. First, the Company’s case is based on the relationship
of the inventor of the Company’s patent with various representatives of European
currency printers, consultants, and other participants during the late 1990’s in
regard to the industry’s attempts to defeat new advanced levels of copier and
scanning technologies that were then emerging in the marketplace. The
inventor of the DSS’s patent had a proven history of success in
anti-counterfeiting technology, and was seen as a source for these industry
participants to help solve these challenges. The Company believes
that it can establish a direct link between these communications and the use of
the technology by these industry participants in the design and production of
the Euro, which was designed in the late 1990’s and was initially released for
circulation in 2002. In addition, prior to filing the ECB litigation,
the Company consulted extensively with legal counsel and performed extensive due
diligence with our legal counsel for approximately one year to analyze the
merits of our patent infringement case, and only after these efforts did we take
our legal counsel’s recommendation to proceed with the European Central Bank
(ECB) Litigation. Based on the cumulative
evidence available to the Company at the time of filing the suit, the Company
has believed from the outset of the case that it will be able to prove in court
that the ECB infringed the Company’s patent on its Euro notes by using the
Company’s technology in the design of the notes for the specific purpose of
making the notes difficult to copy, and therefore the Company’s infringement
case would be successful. Since the case was filed,
the Company has not seen any evidence from the ECB which specifically addresses
the Company’s infringement assertions.
The most
significant events in the case since it was filed have been the challenges of
patent validity by the ECB. The Company believes that the ECB’s
challenge of patent validity represents the biggest hurdle to a successful
outcome. To date, there have been two adverse rulings and two
positive rulings in regard to the patent’s validity. The
Company believes that the European court system for patent disputes is unique as
it separates jurisdiction to its member states despite having a unified patent
application and approval system. As a case in point, on March 26,
2007, the Company’s patent was deemed invalid in the United Kingdom and then on
the immediately following day, on March 27, 2007, the Company’s patent was ruled
as valid in Germany. In addition, on January 9, 2008 the French
Court held that the patent was invalid in France for the same reasons given by
the English Court. On March 12, 2008 the Dutch Court, having
considered the English, German and French decisions, ruled that the Patent is
valid in the Netherlands.
F-12
When we
assess the impact of these decisions, the Company understands that the adverse
rulings on validity mean that the Company will not be able to file infringement
lawsuits in those jurisdictions, and assesses these material changes in its
analysis of the potential proceeds of its case. The win in Germany,
which has the largest volume of circulation of the European banknotes, had a
significant positive impact on the Company’s probability analysis of cash flows
associated with the case. Furthermore, the Company understands that a
successful infringement ruling in any one of the jurisdictions of the European
Union will have a similar impact as if the Company was successful in all of the
jurisdictions of the case, since the ECB would have to either remove the
technology from its banknotes, produce different banknotes depending on the
jurisdiction in which the banknote is circulated, or pay a licensing fee to
continue to use the Company’s patented technology. The Company
believes that the ECB would address the going-forward use of the Company’s
technology in its banknotes, either through a license or settlement, regardless
if the Company wins in one jurisdiction or all
nine. Furthermore, regardless of the ECB’s decision on how to
address a going-forward usage of the Company’s technology, if the Company is
successful in its litigation against the ECB, it is expected that a court would
impose damages on the ECB for prior, unauthorized usage of the Company’s
patent.
The
Company will seek a lump-sum payment for all past uses of the infringed patented
technology, and then will seek an on-going license fee for the continued use of
the patented technology. The Company expects that the ECB will choose
to pay the ongoing license fees rather than redesign the Euro bank notes to not
include the patented technology. The Company’s basis for
this expectation is based on its understanding of the security printing
business. The Company has a long history of licensing its other
patented technology to commercial security printers for use in commercial and
governmental documents in the same manner (% of sales) that it expects the ECB
to pay, either via court decision or a license fee settlement.
In its
analysis of the recoverability of its capitalized patent defense costs, the
Company uses the potential proceeds from its ECB Litigation as the primary
source of future cash flows. In addition, the Company believes that
there are additional infringers of the technology that it may pursue in the
future, depending on the outcomes of its suit with the
ECB. Specifically, the Company uses assumptions of
banknote production volumes during the alleged infringement period and estimated
banknote production costs from third party sources to determine the estimated
total costs of the production of the Euro banknotes in each year of
infringement. The Company then applies a royalty rate that the
Company generally charges international licensees and that the Company believes
is consistent with industry standards to determine the amount that would be due
to the Company if the ECB had licensed the technology from the Company on the
Company’s standard licensing terms. The Company uses this
amount as an estimate of the gross proceeds it could receive from a successful
outcome of the litigation in all jurisdictions. The Company then
allocates these potential proceeds by the percent of circulation of each
jurisdiction in which the Company has ongoing litigation to determine the
potential proceeds of a successful outcome in the jurisdictions where the patent
has been held as valid or where the patent validity has not yet been
determined. Finally, the Company uses a probability factor in its
analysis that discounts these potential future proceeds that takes into account
the different status levels of each jurisdiction. Thus, the
Company determines a probability based cash flow which is compared to the net
patent defense costs balance to determine whether an impairment of these costs
has occurred.
If a
patent is determined to be invalid in a jurisdiction, as has occurred in the
United Kingdom and France, then all appeal costs and other costs associated with
the loss such as court and opposition fees awarded are expensed as incurred in
the period in which the amount is determined.
F-13
On March
19, 2008, the Company received notification that its appeal of the invalidation
of its European Patent 455750B1 in the UK was not successful. As
result of the adverse court decision, the Company recognized an impairment loss
of $292,000 associated with costs directly related to the U.K
appeal. The impairment loss includes a judgment for reimbursement of
estimated counterpart legal fees. In January, 2009, the Company
received a formal request for fee reimbursement from the ECB for a total of
$420,000 in additon to amounts already paid by the
Company. The Company hired an independent firm to assist the Company
in reducing or eliminating the ECB’s fees request, however, the
Company recorded $145,000 as additional accrued expenses and an impairment loss
as of December 31, 2008. The Company expect that the UK fee issue will be
resolved in second half of 2009. (See Note 13)
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC (“Trebuchet”) under which Trebuchet has agreed to pay
substantially all of the litigation costs associated with pending validity
proceedings initiated by the European Central Bank (“ECB”) in eight European
countries relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the
Company has claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euro
currency (the “Patent”). Trebuchet also agreed to pay substantially all of the
litigation costs associated with future validity challenges filed by the ECB or
other parties, provided that Trebuchet elects to assume the defense of any such
challenges, in its sole discretion, and patent infringement suits filed against
the ECB and certain other alleged infringers of the Patent, all of which suits
may be brought at the sole discretion of Trebuchet and may be in the name of the
Company, Trebuchet or both. The Company provided Trebuchet with the sole and
exclusive right to manage infringement litigation relating to the Patent in
Europe, including the right to initiate litigation in the name of the Company,
Trebuchet or both and to choose whom and where to sue, subject to certain
limitations set forth in the agreement. Under the terms of the Agreement, the
Company and Trebuchet have agreed to equally share all proceeds generated from
litigation relating to the Patent, including judgments and licenses or other
arrangements entered into in settlement of any such litigation. Trebuchet is
also entitled to recoup any litigation expenses specifically awarded to the
Company in such actions. Under the terms of the Agreement, and in consideration
for Trebuchet’s funding obligations, the Company assigned and transferred a 49%
interest of the Company’s rights, title and interest in the Patent to Trebuchet
which allows Trebuchet to have a separate and distinct interest in and share of
the Patent, along with the right to sue and recover in litigation, settlement or
otherwise to collect royalties or other payments under or on account of the
Patent. Pursuant to this transaction, the Company recognized a loss
on the sale of patent assets for its assignment and transfer of 49% of its
ownership rights in the patent, which had a net book value of approximately
$1,670,000, for proceeds of $500,000, As a result, the Company
recognized a loss on sale of patent assets of $1,170,000.
Patent
Application Costs - On an ongoing basis, the Company submits formal and
provisional patent applications with the United States, Canada and countries
included in the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The Company
capitalizes these costs and amortizes them over the patents’ estimated useful
life.
Other
intangible assets are comprised of the following at
December 31:
2008
|
2007
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Useful
Life
|
Gross
Carrying
Amount
|
Accumulated
Amortizaton
|
Net
Carrying
Amount
|
Gross
Carrying
Amount
|
Accumulated
Amortizaton
|
Net
Carrying
Amount
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Royalty
rights
|
5
years
|
$ | 90,000 | $ | 90,000 | $ | - | $ | 90,000 | $ | 72,000 | $ | 18,000 | ||||||||||||
Other
intangibles
|
5
years
|
666,300 | 405,424 | 260,876 | 1,187,595 | 335,304 | 852,291 | ||||||||||||||||||
Patent
acquisition and defense costs
|
Varied
(1)
|
4,729,889 | 2,732,422 | 1,997,467 | 7,622,602 | 2,864,303 | 4,758,299 | ||||||||||||||||||
Patent
application costs
|
Varied
(2)
|
718,875 | 103,429 | 615,446 | 582,738 | 61,798 | 520,940 | ||||||||||||||||||
$ | 6,205,064 | $ | 3,331,275 | $ | 2,873,789 | $ | 9,482,935 | $ | 3,333,405 | $ | 6,149,530 |
(1)-
patent rights are amortized over their expected useful life which is
generally the legal life of the patent. As of December 31, 2008 the
weighted average remaining useful life of these assets in service was 2.1
years.
(2)-
patent rights are amortized over their expected useful life which is
generally the legal life of the patent. As of December 31, 2008 the
weighted average remaining useful life of these assets in service was 15
years.
F-14
Actual
amortization for 2008 and 2007 and expected amortization for each of the next
five years is as follows:
2007
Actual
|
$ | 1,754,000 | ||||
2008
Actual
|
1,972,000 | |||||
Expected
|
||||||
2009
|
1,341,000 | |||||
2010
|
607,000 | |||||
2011
|
454,000 | |||||
2012
|
36,000 | |||||
2013
|
36,000 | |||||
Thereafter
|
400,000 | |||||
$ | 2,874,000 |
NOTE
6. – SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM DEBT
Long Term Revolving Note- Related
Parties On January 4, 2008, the Company entered into a Credit Facility
Agreement with Fagenson and Co., Inc., as agent, a related party to Robert B.
Fagenson, the Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors. Under the Fagenson
Credit Agreement, the Company can borrow up to a maximum of $3,000,000 from time
to time up to and until January 4, 2010. The advances are generally
limited to $400,000 unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by both parties per
fiscal quarter, with the exception of $600,000 that can be advanced at any time
for patent litigation related bills. Any amount borrowed by the
Company pursuant to the Fagenson Credit Agreement will have an annual interest
rate of 2% above LIBOR and will be secured by the Common Stock of Plastic
Printing Professionals, Inc., (“P3”) the Company's wholly owned
subsidiary. Interest is payable quarterly in arrears and the
principal is payable in full at the end of the term under the Fagenson Credit
Agreement. In addition, on January 4, 2008, the Company also entered
into a Credit Facility Agreement with Patrick White, the Company's Chief
Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Under the
White Credit Agreement, the Company can borrow up to $600,000 from time to time
up to and until January 4, 2010. Any amount borrowed by the Company
pursuant to the White Credit Agreement will have an annual interest rate of 2%
above LIBOR and will be secured by the accounts receivable of the Company,
excluding the accounts receivable of P3. Interest is payable
quarterly in arrears and the principal is payable in full at the end of the term
under the White Credit Agreement. Mr. White can accept common stock
as repayment of the loan upon a default. Under the terms of the
agreement the Company is required to comply with various
covenants. As of December 31, 2008, the Company was in default of
both agreements due to a failure to pay interest when due. Both
Fagenson and Co., Inc. and Patrick White have waived the defaults through
January 1, 2010.
As of
December 31, 2008, the Company had outstanding $450,000 under the White Credit
Agreement, $1,833,000 under the Fagenson Credit Agreement. Interest
expense amounted to $82,000 for the year ended December 31, 2008, of which
$54,000 is included in accrued expenses as of December 31, 2008.
Short-Term Notes- On May 7,
2008 the Company entered into a $500,000 unsecured credit facility with Taiko
III Corp to fund the Company’s ongoing patent infringement and related lawsuits
against the European Central Bank. Interest accrued on the unpaid
principal amount at a 6% annual rate. On August 20, 2008, the
Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners, LLC, which,
among other things, called for Trebuchet to pay the Company $500,000, which the
Company used to pay in full the Company’s existing obligation owed to Taiko III
Corp.
On
December 18, 2008, the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Secuprint, Inc. (dba
DPI Secuprint, Inc.) entered a Secured Promissory Note with Baum
Capital Investments Inc. (“Baum”) in the principal amount of up to $900,000 to
pay for most of the cash portion of the purchase price of the Company’s
acquisition of substantially all of the assets of DPI of Rochester,
LLC. The Secured Promissory Note has a one-year term, is secured by
all of the assets of DPI Secuprint and has an annual interest rate of 15%, with
a reduction to 12%, depending on whether certain conditions are met after three
months. The note is subject to pre-payments if among other
provisions, if DPI Secuprint’s cash receipts do not exceed its cash expenditures
for two consecutive months during the term. In conjunction with the
Note, the Company issued warrants to purchase up to a total of 250,000 shares of
the Company’s common stock at an average price of $2.00 per
share. The warrants are exercisable on February 16, 2009 and expire
on December 17, 2013. The fair value of the warrants of approximately
$256,000 was determined using the Black Scholes option pricing model, and was
recorded as discount on debt and will be amortized over the term of the
Note.
F-15
NOTE
7. - STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Stock Issued for
Services - On November 14, 2006, the Company entered into an agreement
with McDermott Will Emery LLP (“MWE”), its former lead counsel on its European
Central Bank (“ECB Litigation”) patent infringement and related cases. The
agreement with MWE allowed the Company to use its common stock with a value not
to exceed $1.2 million to eliminate the Company’s cash requirements for MWE’s
legal fees related to the ECB Litigation. During 2007, 60,866
restricted common shares were issued to MWE to pay for approximately $746,000 of
legal fees incurred the through December 31, 2007. There were
no shares issued under the agreement during 2008. In total, 107,881
shares valued at $1,203,000 were issued to MWE under the agreement.
Stock Issued in
Private Placement - On January 22, 2007, the Company sold 6 units at a
price of $50,000 per unit consisting of 35,280 unregistered shares of its common
stock and five-year warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 17,640 shares of
its common stock at an exercise price of $11.75 per share. The fair
market value of these warrants of $107,000 was determined using the Black
Scholes option pricing model. The Company incurred private
placement fees associated with the offering equal to 9% commissions, or
$27,000. In addition, in January 2007, the Company paid $492,000 of
private placement fees and legal fees relating to an offering that occurred
during 2006.
On June
25, 2008 the Company entered into two Share Purchase Agreements pursuant to
which the Company agreed to sell a total of 500,000 shares of the Company’s
common stock for an aggregate purchase price of
$2,000,000. Pursuant to the terms of the first Agreement, the
Company sold 150,000 shares of Common Stock to the purchaser for $600,000
payable on June 25, 2008. Pursuant to the terms of the second Agreement, the
Company sold 350,000 shares of Common Stock for $1,400,000, with $100,000
payable on June 25, 2008 and the remaining $1,300,000 payable in six-month
installments over a two-year period. As of March 31, 2009, the share
subscription was not current and the Company is reviewing its options under the
Agreement, which may include termination of the agreement. Pursuant
to the terms of the first Agreement, the purchaser may not sell the 150,000
shares of Common Stock purchased thereunder earlier than June 25,
2009. Pursuant to the terms of the second Agreement, the purchaser
may not sell the 350,000 shares of Common Stock purchased thereunder until the
earlier of (i) one year after the Purchase Price being paid in full to the
Company, or (ii) the one-year anniversary of a Payment Failure Termination Event
(as defined in the second Agreement). (See Note 13 Commitments
and Contingencies)
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC who agreed to pay substantially all of the litigation costs associated with
pending validity proceedings initiated by the ECB in eight European countries
relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the Company has
claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euro
currency. Trebuchet has also purchased 100,000 shares of the
Company’s common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $400,000, the proceeds
of which were used by the Company to pay existing litigation cost.
Stock
Warrants - During year ended December 31, 2008, the Company received
$100,000 in proceeds from the exercise of warrants to purchase 50,000 shares of
its common stock. During year ended December 31, 2007, the Company received
approximately $55,000 in proceeds from the exercise of warrants to purchase
12,125 shares of its common stock.
On June
16, 2006, the Company issued to International Barcode Corporation (d/b/a Barcode
Technology)(“BTI”), a warrant to purchase 500,000 shares of the Company’s common
stock, $0.02 par value per share, at a price of $10.00 per share vesting over
approximately one year and with an expiration date of June 16,
2007. The fair value of the warrants amounted to $890,000
utilizing Black Scholes option pricing model. This value was
recognized over the vesting period. During the year ended December
31, 2007, the Company recognized approximately $223,000 of expense related to
these warrants. The warrants were issued in conjunction with an
agreement that provides BTI with the exclusive right to market, sell and
manufacture DSS technologies, products and processes for all security-related
applications for government and commercial use in China. In
June 2007, the Company entered into an agreement with BTI to extend the
expiration date of the warrants from June 16, 2007 to December 31,
2007. In exchange, BTI agreed to provide the Company with a
non-exclusive license to market and produce BTI’s advanced barcode technologies
in the United States for five years. This extension was treated as a
modification of the award in accordance with FAS 123R. The value of the
modification of approximately $521,000 was recorded as an other intangible
asset. In December 2008, the Company recorded an impairment of
$361,000 for the BTI license agreement as the Company assessed that the probable
future cash flows derived from the license did not support its carrying
value.
On
December 18, 2008, the Company issued warrants to purchase up to a total of
250,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at an average price of $2.00 per
share in conjunction with a secured promissory note. (See Note 6- Short Term and
Long-Term Debt) The warrants are exercisable on February 16, 2009
and expire on December 17, 2013. The fair value of the warrants of
approximately $256,000 was determined using the Black Scholes option pricing
model, and was recorded as discount on debt and will be amortized over the term
of the note.
F-16
During
2007, the Company issued 25,000 fully vested warrants to purchase the Company’s
shares with an exercise price of $12.59 per share with a three-year term to a
unrelated third party consultant. Additionally, during 2007, the
Company issued 136,760 warrants to purchase the Company’s shares with an
exercise price of $12.63 per share with a five-year term to another unrelated
third party consultant of which 50% of the warrants vested upon issuance with
the remaining warrants to vest six months from the date of grant, subject to
certain vesting acceleration provisions.
The
following is a summary with respect to warrants outstanding and exercisable at
December 31, 2008 and 2007 and activity during the years then
ended:
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||||||||||
Weighted
|
Weighted
|
|||||||||||||||
Average
|
Average
|
|||||||||||||||
Exercise
|
Exercise
|
|||||||||||||||
Warrants
|
Price
|
Warrants
|
Price
|
|||||||||||||
Outstanding
and exercisable at January 1
|
591,093 | $ | 10.82 | 923,818 | $ | 9.96 | ||||||||||
Granted
during the year
|
250,000 | $ | 2.00 | 179,400 | $ | 12.54 | ||||||||||
Exercised
|
(50,000 | ) | $ | (2.00 | ) | (12,125 | ) | $ | (4.55 | ) | ||||||
Lapsed
|
(30,061 | ) | $ | (5.00 | ) | (500,000 | ) | $ | (10.00 | ) | ||||||
Outstanding
and exercisable at December 31
|
761,032 | $ | 8.73 | 591,093 | $ | 10.82 | ||||||||||
Weighted average months remaining | 44.7 | 43.8 |
The
following table summarizes the warrants outstanding and exercisable as of
December 31, 2008:
Warrants
Outstanding & Exercisable
|
||||||||||||
Range
of Exercise Prices
|
Number
of
Shares
|
Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life
(in years)
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
|
|||||||||
$1.60-$4.99
|
250,000 | 5.0 | $ | 2.00 | ||||||||
$11.00-$12.63
|
511,032 | 3.1 | $ | 12.03 | ||||||||
761,032 |
Stock Options
- The Company has two stock-based compensation plans. The 2004
Employees’ Stock Option Plan (the “2004 Plan”) provides for the issuance of up
to a total of 1,700,000 shares of common stock authorized to be issued for
grants of options, restricted stock and other forms of equity to employees and
consultants. Under the terms of the 2004 Plan, options granted
thereunder may be designated as options which qualify for incentive stock option
treatment (“ISOs”) under Section 422A of the Internal Revenue Code, or options
which do not qualify (“NQSOs”). The exercise price for options
granted under the Director Plan is 100% of the fair market value of the Common
Stock on the date of grant. The Non-Executive Director Stock Option Plan (the
“Director Plan”) provides for the issuance of up to a total of 100,000 shares of
common stock authorized to be issued for options grants for non-executive
directors and advisors. Under the terms of the Director Plan, an option to
purchase (a) 5,000 shares of our common stock shall be granted to each
non-executive director upon joining the Board of Directors and (b) 5,000 shares
of our common stock plus an additional 1,000 shares of our common stock for each
year that the applicable director has served on the Board of Directors, up to a
maximum of 10,000 shares per year shall be granted to each non-executive
director thereafter on January 2nd of each year; provided that any non-executive
director who has not served as a director for the entire year immediately prior
to January 2nd shall receive a pro rata number of options based on the time the
director has served in such capacity during the previous year. Both
Plans were adopted by the Company’s shareholders.
F-17
The
following is a summary with respect to options outstanding at December 31,
2008 and 2007 and activity during the years then ended:
2004
Employee Plan
|
Non-Executive
Director Plan
|
|||||||||||||||||
Number
of
Options
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
|
Weighted
Average
Life
Remaining
|
Number
of
Options
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise Price
|
Weighted
Average Life
Remaining
|
|||||||||||||
(in
years)
|
(in
years)
|
|||||||||||||||||
Outstanding
at December 31, 2006
|
296,000 | 8.17 | 58,750 | $ | 8.02 | |||||||||||||
Granted
|
326,500 | 11.36 | 20,000 | 11.10 | ||||||||||||||
Exercised
|
(5,000 | ) | (8.38 | ) | - | - | ||||||||||||
Forfeited
|
- | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||
Outstanding
at December 31, 2007:
|
617,500 | 9.70 | 78,750 | 8.78 | ||||||||||||||
Granted
|
83,000 | 5.01 | 37,000 | 6.31 | ||||||||||||||
Exercised
|
- | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||
Forfeited
|
(37,000 | ) | (8.87 | ) | - | - | ||||||||||||
Outstanding
at December 31, 2008:
|
663,500 | 7.27 | 115,750 | 7.99 | ||||||||||||||
Exercisable
at December 31, 2008:
|
381,917 | 6.98 | 78,750 | 8.78 | ||||||||||||||
Aggregate
Intrinsic Value of outstanding options at December 31,
2008
|
$ | - |
2.5
|
$ | - |
2.4
|
||||||||||||
Aggregate
Intrinsic Value of exercisable options at December 31,
2008
|
$ | - |
1.9
|
$ | - |
1.6
|
Options
Outstanding
|
Options
Exercisable
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Range
of
Exercise
Prices
|
Number
of
Shares
|
Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life
(in years)
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
|
Number
of
Shares
|
Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life
(in years)
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
|
||||||||||||||||||
$2.20-$5.00
|
46,750 | 3.4 | $ | 3.87 | 13,750 | 0.1 | $ | 3.57 | ||||||||||||||||
$5.01-$9.00
|
502,500 | 2.5 | $ | 6.07 | 329,417 | 1.9 | $ | 6.12 | ||||||||||||||||
$9.01-$12.91
|
230,000 | 2.0 | $ | 10.94 | 117,500 | 1.9 | $ | 10.99 | ||||||||||||||||
779,250 | 460,667 |
The
weighted-average grant date fair value of options granted during the year ended
December 31, 2008 was $2.03 ($5.11 -2007). There were no options exercised
during the year ended December 31, 2008. There were 5,000 options exercised in a
cashless exercise during the year ended December 31, 2007 with a weighted
average grant date fair value of $3.12 per share.
F-18
The fair
value of each option award is estimated on the date of grant utilizing the Black
Scholes Option Pricing Model that uses the assumptions noted in the following
table.
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Volatility
|
53.6 | % | 54.2 | % | ||||
Expected
option term
|
3.3 years
|
3.61 years
|
||||||
Risk-free
interest rate
|
3.09 | % | 4.2 | % | ||||
Expected
forfeiture rate
|
0.0 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
Expected
dividend yield
|
0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
Restricted Stock
Issued to Employees – Restricted common stock is issued under the 2004
Plan for services to be rendered and may not be sold, transferred or pledged for
such period as determined by our Compensation Committee. Restricted stock
compensation cost is measured as the stock’s fair value based on the quoted
market price at the date of grant. The restricted shares issued reduce the
amount available under the employee stock option plans. Compensation cost is
recognized only on restricted shares that will ultimately vest. The Company
estimates the number of shares that will ultimately vest at each grant date
based on historical experience and adjust compensation cost and the carrying
amount of unearned compensation based on changes in those estimates over time.
Restricted stock compensation cost is recognized ratably over the requisite
service period which approximates the vesting period. An employee may not sell
or otherwise transfer unvested shares and, in the event that employment is
terminated prior to the end of the vesting period, any unvested shares are
surrendered to the Company. The Company has no obligation to repurchase
restricted stock.
The
following is a summary of activity of restricted stock during the years ended at
December 31, 2008 and 2007:
Shares
|
Weighted- average
Grant Date Fair
Value
|
|||||||
Restricted
shares outstanding, December 31, 2006
|
375,000 | $ | 10.29 | |||||
Restricted
shares granted
|
220,000 | 12.50 | ||||||
Restricted
shares vested
|
(21,677 | ) | (10.77 | ) | ||||
Restricted
shares forfeited
|
(60,000 | ) | (10.19 | ) | ||||
Restricted
shares outstanding, December 31, 2007
|
513,323 | $ | 12.35 | |||||
Restricted
shares granted
|
110,592 | 2.31 | ||||||
Restricted
shares vested
|
(46,134 | ) | (10.49 | ) | ||||
Restricted
shares forfeited
|
(250,000 | ) | (12.50 | ) | ||||
Restricted
shares outstanding, December 31, 2008
|
327,781 | $ | 9.05 |
F-19
On
December 18, 2008, the Company issued under the 2004 Plan 50,000 restricted
shares of the Company’s common stock each to two former employees of DPI of
Rochester, LLC, as part of their employment agreements for future services to
the Company. The restricted shares had a aggregated grant date fair
value of $210,000 and will vest proratably over five years. During
2007, the Company granted restricted shares of 25,000 shares of the Company’s
common stock with a fair value of $312,500 to a member of the Company’s
management that vests proratably over a two year period. Also in
2007, the Company granted 195,000 performance based restricted stock to certain
members of the Company’s senior management, all of which immediately vest upon
the occurrence of certain events over a 5 year period, which include, among
other things a change of control of the Company or other merger or acquisition
of the Company, and the achievement of certain financial goals, including among
other things a successful result of the Company’s patent infringement lawsuit
against the European Central Bank.
As of
December 31, 2008, there are 132,781 unvested restricted shares granted to
employees and consultants that vest through December 2014. In
addition, there are 195,000 restricted shares that will vest only upon the
occurrence of certain events over the next 4 years, which include, among other
things a change of control of the Company or other merger or acquisition of the
Company, the achievement of certain financial goals, including among other
things a successful result of the Company’s patent infringement lawsuit against
the European Central Bank. These 195,000 shares, if vested,
would result in the recording of stock based compensation expense of
approximately $2,438,000, the grant date fair value, over the period beginning
when any of the contingent vesting events is deemed to be probable over the
expected requisite service period. As of December 31, 2008, vesting
is not considered probable and no compensation expense has been recognized
related to the performance grants. On May 10, 2008, the
Company accelerated the vesting of 33,333 restricted shares and retired 250,000
of unvested restricted stock as the result of a separation agreement with the
Company’s former President. The 33,333 shares of
restricted stock, formerly set to vest pro-ratably through June 2009, were
accelerated to vest pro-ratably on a monthly basis over a ten-month vesting
period ending in March 2009. As a result of the acceleration of the
33,333 shares of restricted stock, the Company recognized approximately $194,000
of stock based compensation during the year ended December 31,
2008. (See Note 13)
Stock-Based
Compensation -On
August 13, 2008, the Company cancelled 330,500 employee stock options with
exercise prices ranging from $6.24 to $12.50, and replaced the cancelled options
with 330,500 employee stock options with an exercise price of
$6.00. No other terms of the options were modified. On the
date of grant, the fair market value of the Company’s Common Stock was
$5.15. The repricing was treated as a modification under FAS123R, and
resulted in an additional aggregate fair value expense determined using the
Black- Scholes option pricing model of approximately $225,000, of which
approximately $170,000 was expensed as of the grant date for fully vested
options. The remaining fair value of the modified options will be
expensed proratably during the expected vesting period of the options thru
2010.
The total
compensation cost that has been charged against income for stock based awards
granted was approximately $1,747,000 for the year ended December 31,
2008. The impact of these expenses to the weighted average common
shares outstanding, basic and diluted earnings for the year ended December 31,
2008 was approximately $0.12. As of December 31, 2008, there was approximately
$434,000 of unrecognized compensation cost related to stock based compensation
awards which costs are expected to be recognized over a period of 5.0
years. There was no unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested options
granted under the Non-Executive Director plan.
NOTE
8. –BUSINESS COMBINATIONS-
On
December 18, 2008, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary,
Secuprint, Inc. (dba DPI Secuprint, Inc.) acquired substantially all of the
assets of DPI of Rochester, LLC (“DPI”) for approximately $938,000 in cash and
$145,000 of expenses, the right to assume certain leases, including the lease on
its building, and a contingent payment of up to $50,000 within five years of the
acquisition. The acquisition has been accounted for as a business
combination. Under business combination accounting, the total purchase price was
allocated to DPI’s net tangible and identifiable intangible assets, if any,
based on their estimated fair values as of December 18, 2008 as determined
by management. Based on management’s preliminary assumptions,
no goodwill was recorded as a result of the business combination. The
contingent payment of up to $50,000 was considered remote, therefore, future
payments made, if any, will be considered additional purchase price when
paid.
The
allocation of the preliminary purchase price and the estimated useful lives
associated with the acquired assets is as follows:
Estimated
|
|||||
Amount
|
Useful Life
|
||||
Accounts
receivable
|
$ | 876,287 |
|
||
Inventory
and work in process
|
67,250 | ||||
Machinery
and equipment
|
139,000 |
5
years
|
|||
Total
assets acquired
|
1,082,537 |
|
|||
Liabilities
assumed
|
— |
|
|||
Total
preliminary purchase price
|
$ | 1,082,537 |
|
Set
forth below is the unaudited pro forma revenue, operating loss, net loss and
loss per share of the Company as if DPI had been acquired by the Company as of
January 1, 2007:
Year Ended December 31,
|
||||||||
(unaudited)
|
||||||||
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Revenue
|
$ | 14,119,500 | $ | 13,561,439 | ||||
Gross
profit
|
5,886,063 | 4,775,437 | ||||||
Net
Loss
|
(8,717,790 | ) | (7,467,102 | ) | ||||
Basic
and diluted loss per share
|
(0.62 | ) | (0.55 | ) |
NOTE
9. -DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS
On
September 25, 2007, the Company sold certain assets and the operations of its
retail copying and quickprinting operations to an unrelated third party for
$80,000 and the assumption of ongoing operating leases. The sale
included fixed assets with a net book value of approximately
$37,000. In accordance with SFAS 144, the disposal of assets
constitutes a component of the entity and has been accounted for as discontinued
operations. The Company recognized a gain on the sale of approximately $43,000.
The operating results relating to these assets are segregated and reported as
discontinued operations in the accompanying 2007 consolidated statement of
operations. The results of operations directly attributed to the
division’s operations that have been reclassified from continuing operations are
as follows:
Year Ended December
|
||||
2007
|
||||
Revenues
|
$ | 291,781 | ||
Cost
of sales
|
142,331 | |||
Operating
expenses
|
203,917 | |||
Loss
from discontinued operations
|
$ | (54,467 | ) |
NOTE
10. – OTHER INCOME
On May
31, 2008, the Company was awarded a judgment of approximately $126,000 pursuant
to a positive judgement for the Company in its counterclaim the matter “Frank
LaLoggia v. Document Security Systems, Inc”, which the Company won in June
2006. The Company expects to collect the full amount of the
judgment.
NOTE
11. - INCOME TAXES-
Following
is a summary of the components giving rise to the income tax provision (benefit)
for the years ended December 31:
F-20
The
provision (benefit) for income taxes consists of the following:
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Currently
payable:
|
||||||||
Federal
|
$ | - | $ | - | ||||
State
|
- | - | ||||||
Total
currently payable
|
- | - | ||||||
Deferred:
|
||||||||
Federal
|
(2,583,341 | ) | (2,062,311 | ) | ||||
State
|
(616,339 | ) | (492,039 | ) | ||||
Total
deferred
|
(3,199,680 | ) | (2,554,350 | ) | ||||
Less
increase in allowance
|
3,218,641 | 2,573,353 | ||||||
Net
deferred
|
18,961 | 19,003 | ||||||
Total
income tax provision (benefit)
|
$ | 18,961 | $ | 19,003 |
Individual
components of deferred taxes are as follows:
Deferred tax assets:
|
2008
|
2007
|
||||||
Net
operating loss carry forwards
|
$ | 9,321,843 | $ | 6,621,844 | ||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
||||||||
Equity
issued for services
|
1,010,084 | 541,964 | ||||||
Other
|
104,299 | 389,934 | ||||||
Total
|
10,436,226 | 7,553,742 | ||||||
Less
valuation allowance
|
(10,342,023 | ) | (7,501,679 | ) | ||||
Gross
deferred tax assets
|
$ | 94,203 | $ | 52,063 | ||||
Deferred
tax liabilities:
|
||||||||
Goodwill
|
$ | 51,878 | $ | 19,003 | ||||
Modification
of equity awards for licensing agreeement
|
- | 180,997 | ||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
94,203 | 52,063 | ||||||
Gross
deferred tax liabilities
|
$ | 146,081 | $ | 252,063 | ||||
Net
deferred tax liabilities
|
$ | (51,878 | ) | $ | (200,000 | ) |
The
Company has approximately $25,263,000 in net operating loss carryforwards
(“NOL’s”) available to reduce future taxable income, of which approximately
$1,412,000 is subject to change of control limitations that generally restricts
the utilization of the NOL per year and $3,100,000 of the NOL will be allocated
to contributed capital when subsequently realized. Due to the
uncertainty as to the Company’s ability to generate sufficient taxable income in
the future and utilize the NOL’s before they expire, the Company has recorded a
valuation allowance accordingly A portion of the net operating loss
carryforward, amounting to approximately $808,000, relates to tax deductions for
stock awards, options and warrants exercised subsequent to the implementation of
SFAS 123(R), which are not included in the determination of the deferred
tax asset above and will be recognized in accordance with SFAS 123(R) and
FIN48, when realized for tax purposes. These carryforwards expire at
various dates from 2022 through 2028.
The
differences between the United States statutory federal income tax rate and the
effective income tax rate in the accompanying consolidated statements of
operations are as follows:
F-21
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Statutory
United States federal rate
|
34 | % | 34 | % | ||||
State
income taxes net of federal benefit
|
5 | 5 | ||||||
Permanent
differences
|
(0.3 | ) | (2 | ) | ||||
Change
in valuation reserves
|
(38.9 | ) | (37 | ) | ||||
Effective
tax rate
|
(0.2 | ) % | (0.2 | ) % |
In July
2006, the FASB released Interpretation No. 48, “Accounting for Uncertainty in
Income Taxes – an Interpretation of FASB Statement 109” (“FIN48”). Effective for
fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2006, FIN48 provides guidance on the
financial statement recognition and measurement for income tax positions that we
have taken or expect to take in our income tax returns. It also provides related
guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in
interim periods, disclosure and transition. We adopted the provisions of FIN48
on January 1, 2007. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s
consolidated results of operations and financial position, and therefore, the
Company did not have any adjustment to the January 1, 2007 beginning balance of
retained earnings.
A
reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits
is as follows:
Unrecognized
tax benefits balance at January 1, 2008
|
$
|
0
|
||
Gross
increase for tax positions of prior years
|
446,000
|
|||
Gross
decrease for tax positions of prior years
|
—
|
|||
Gross
increase for tax positions of current year
|
—
|
|||
Gross
decrease for tax positions of current year
|
—
|
|||
Settlements
|
—
|
|||
Lapse
of statute of limitations
|
—
|
|||
Unrecognized
tax benefits balance at December 31, 2008
|
$
|
446,000
|
At
December 31, 2008, the total unrecognized tax benefits of $446,000 have
been netted against the related deferred tax assets.
The
Company recognizes interest accrued and penalties related to unrecognized tax
benefits in tax expense. During the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2007 the
Company recognized no interest and penalties.
The
Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various
states. The tax years 2005-2007 generally remain open to examination by major
taxing jurisdictions to which the Company is subject.
NOTE
12. - DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PENSION PLAN
The
Company established an Employee savings plan (the “401(k) Plan”) in 2006 which
qualifies as a deferred salary arrangement under Section 401(k) of the Internal
Revenue Code. Employees become eligible to participate in the Plan at
the beginning of the following quarter after the employee’s hire
date. Employees may contribute up to 20% of their pay to the Plan,
subject to the limitations of the Internal Revenue
Code. Company matching contributions are
discretionary. Pursuant to the 401(k) Plan, employees may elect to defer a
portion of their salary on a pre-tax basis. For employees who participated
in the plan, the Company matched the employer’s contribution in 2007 pursuant to
the Safe Harbor Provisions of Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code up to
4% of the employee’s annual compensation. During the year ended December
31, 2008, the Company did not make any matching contributions. During
the year ended December 31, 2007 the Company contributed approximately $71,000
to the 401(k) plan.
NOTE
13. – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Facilities
- The Company leases a total of approximately 59,700 square feet of office space
for its administrative offices, its two printing facilities and legal supplies
business at a monthly rental aggregating approximately $36,000. The leases
expire through July 2014, although renewal options exist to extend lease
agreements for up to an additional 60 months.
Equipment
Leases - The Company leases printing, copying, collating and
stapling equipment for its printing operations. The leases may be capital leases
or operating leases and are generally for a term of 36 to 60
months. The leases expire through July
2011.
F-22
A summary
of lease commitments at December 31, 2008 are as follows:
Operating Leases
|
||||||||||||||||
Capital Leases
|
Equipment
|
Facilities
|
Total
|
|||||||||||||
Payments
made in 2008
|
$ | 79,948 | $ | 42,193 | $ | 349,490 | $ | 391,683 | ||||||||
Future
minimum lease commitments:
|
||||||||||||||||
2009
|
109,744 | 198,560 | 440,575 | 639,135 | ||||||||||||
2010
|
88,207 | 192,164 | 450,996 | 643,160 | ||||||||||||
2011
|
88,207 | 145,539 | 467,639 | 613,178 | ||||||||||||
2012
|
75,607 | 3,588 | 355,540 | 359,128 | ||||||||||||
2013
|
- | 1,196 | 365,366 | 366,562 | ||||||||||||
Thereafter
|
- | - | 153,898 | 153,898 | ||||||||||||
Total
future minimum lease commitments
|
$ | 361,765 | $ | 541,047 | $ | 2,234,014 | $ | 2,775,061 | ||||||||
Less
amount representing interest
|
(73,033 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Present
value of future minimum lease commitments
|
288,732 | |||||||||||||||
Less
current portion
|
(78,367 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Long
term portion
|
$ | 210,365 |
During
2008, the Company entered into two leases for production equipment with an
aggregate monthly cost of $13,218 to be used at its plastic printing
facility. The leases are with The Ergonomics Group, a licensee of the
Company. The Ergonomics Group is also related to Trebuchet
Capital Partners, the Company’s ECB Litigation partner.
Employment
agreements -The Company
has employment agreements having terms in excess of one year with six of members
of its management team with terms ranging from three to five years through June
2013. The agreements provide for severance payments of between 12 and 18 months
of salary in the event of termination for certain causes. As of December 31, 2008, the minimum
annual severance payments under these employment agreements are, in
aggregate, approximately $1,035,000.
In May
2008, the Company entered into a Separation Agreement with its former President
that, among other things, accelerated the vesting of 33,333 shares of restricted
common stock of the Company that were previously awarded to the former President
pursuant to the Company’s 2004 Employee Stock Option Plan so that such shares
vested in equal monthly installments during the immediately following ten
months. The Separation Agreement further provided that if the former
President did not realize at least $212,000 in gross proceeds from the sale of
such 33,333 shares of restricted stock upon their vesting, then the Company
would pay the former President the amount that such proceeds is less than
$212,000 in cash or additional shares of common stock of the
Company. As of December 31, 2008, 23,338 of such 33,333 shares had
vested generating gross proceeds of approximately $83,000.
Contingent
Litigation Payment –In May 2005, the Company made an agreement with its
legal counsel in charge of the Company’s litigation with the European Central
Bank which capped the fees for all matters associated with that litigation at
$500,000 plus expenses, and a $150,000 contingent payment upon a successful
ruling or settlement on the Company’s behalf in that litigation. The
Company will record the $150,000 in the period in which the Company has
determined that a successful ruling or settlement is probable.
F-23
In addition, pursuant to an agreement
made in December 2004, the Company is required to share the economic benefit
derived from settlements, licenses or subsequent business arrangements that the
Company obtains from any infringer of patents formerly owned by the Wicker
Family. For infringement matters involving certain U.S. patents, the
Company will be required to disburse 30% of the settlement
proceeds. For infringement matters involving certain foreign patents,
the Company will be required to disburse 14% of the settlement
proceeds. These payments do not apply to licenses or royalties to
patents that the Company has developed or obtained from persons other than the
Wicker Family. As of December 31, 2008, there have been no settlement
amounts related to these agreements.
Legal Proceedings
– On August 1, 2005, we commenced a suit against the European Central
Bank (“ECB”) alleging patent infringement by the ECB and claimed unspecified
damages. We brought the suit in the European Court of First Instance in
Luxembourg. We alleged that all Euro banknotes in circulation
infringe the Company European Patent 0 455 750B1 (the “Patent”), which covers a
method of incorporating an anti-counterfeiting feature into banknotes or similar
security documents to protect against forgeries by digital scanning and copying
devices. The Court of First Instance ruled on September 5, 2007 that
it does not have jurisdiction to rule on the patent infringement claim, and also
ruled that we will be required to pay attorneys and court fees of the
ECB. The ECB formally requested the Company to pay attorneys and
court fees in the amount of Euro 93,752 ($132,000 as of December 31, 2008),
which, unless the amount is settled will be subject to an assessment procedure
that will not likely be concluded until approximately the middle of 2009, which
the Company will accrue as soon as the assessed amount, if any, is reasonably
estimatable.
On March 24, 2006, we received notice
that the ECB has filed a separate claim in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg
courts seeking the invalidation of the Patent. Proceedings were
commenced before the national courts seeking revocation and declarations of
invalidity of the Patent in each of the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France,
Spain, Germany and Austria. On March 26, 2007, the High Court of
Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court in London, England (the “English
Court”) ruled that the Patent was deemed invalid in the United Kingdom, and on
March 19, 2008 this decision was upheld on appeal. The English Court
rejected the ECB’s allegations of invalidity based on lack of novelty, lack of
inventive step and insufficiency, but held that the patent was invalid for added
subject matter. The English Court’s decision does not affect the validity of the
Patent in other European countries. On March 30, 2007, the English
Court awarded the ECB 30% of their costs (including legal fees) of the initial
trial, of which the Company paid 90,000 British pounds ($182,000 based on the
applicable exchange rate on that date) on April 19, 2007. We
expect that an additional 90,000 pounds ($130,500 at December 31, 2008) will
become payable by the Company for the costs of the initial trial, which is
included in accrued expenses as of December 31, 2008 in the amount of
$182,250. In July 2007, the Company posted a bond of 87,500 British
pounds ($131,000 at December 31, 2008), as collateral for the appeal costs which
is recorded as restricted cash at December 31, 2008. On June 19,
2008, the Company paid an additional 87,500 British pounds ($177,000 based on
the applicable exchange rate on that date) towards the ECB’s costs of the
English appeal. In January 2009, the Company received a formal
request for fee reimbursement from the ECB for a total of $420,000, in
addition to amounts already paid by the Company. The Company
hired an independent firm to assist the Company in reducing or eliminating the
ECB’s fees request, however, the Company recorded $145,000 as an
impairment loss and as additional accrued expenses as of December 31,
2008. The Company expects that the UK fee issue will be
resolved in second half of 2009.
On March
27, 2007 the Bundespatentgericht of the Federal Republic of Germany ruled that
the German part of the Patent was valid, having considered the English Court’s
decision. As a result of this ruling, the Company expects to be
awarded reimbursements for its costs associated with the German validity case,
which is Euro 44,692 ($65,000 at December 31, 2008), which the
Company will record when the amount, if any, is received. The ECB has
filed an appeal against that decision, which is not expected to be decided
before 2010. On January 9, 2008 the French Court held that the Patent
was invalid in France for the same reasons given by the English
Court. The Company is required to pay de minimus attorneys’ fees of
the ECB as a result of the French decision. The Company filed an
appeal against the French decision on May 7, 2008. On March 12, 2008
the Dutch Court, having considered the English, German and French decisions,
ruled that the Patent is valid in the Netherlands. The ECB filed an
appeal against the Dutch decision on March 27, 2008. A trial was also held in
Madrid, Spain on June 3 and 5, 2008 and oral and written closing submissions
were made on July 19, 2008. A judgment is expected in the first half of
2009.
The
Patent has thus been confirmed to be valid and enforceable in two jurisdictions
(Germany and the Netherlands) that use the Euro as its national currency
allowing us to proceed with infringement cases in these countries if we choose
to do so. Additional trials on the validity of the Patent are
expected in other European jurisdictions in 2009.
On August
20, 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Trebuchet Capital Partners,
LLC (“Trebuchet”) under which Trebuchet has agreed to pay
substantially all of the litigation costs associated with pending validity
proceedings initiated by the European Central Bank (“ECB”) in eight European
countries relating to the Company’s European Patent 0 455 750B1 that the
Company has claimed the ECB infringed in printing of the Euro
currency (the “Patent”). Trebuchet also agreed to pay substantially all of the
litigation costs associated with future validity challenges filed by the ECB or
other parties, provided that Trebuchet elects to assume the defense of any such
challenges, in its sole discretion, and patent infringement suits filed against
the ECB and certain other alleged infringers of the Patent, all of which suits
may be brought at the sole discretion of Trebuchet and may be in the name of the
Company, Trebuchet or both. The Company provided Trebuchet with the sole and
exclusive right to manage infringement litigation relating to the Patent in
Europe, including the right to initiate litigation in the name of the Company,
Trebuchet or both and to choose whom and where to sue, subject to certain
limitations set forth in the agreement under the terms of the Agreement, and in
consideration for the Trebuchet's funding obligations, the Company assigned and
transferred a 49% interest of the Company's rights, title and interest in the
Patent to Trebuchet which allows Trebuchet to have a separate and distinct
interest in and share of the Patent, along with the right to sue and recover in
litigation, settlement or otherwise to collect royalties or other payments under
or on account of the Patent. In addition, the Company and Trebuchet have agreed
to equally share all proceeds generated from litigation relating to the
Patent, including judgments and licenses or other arrangements entered
into in settlement of any such litigation. Trebuchet is also entitled to recoup
any litigation expenses specifically awarded to the Company in such
actions.
F-24
On
January 31, 2003, the Company commenced an action, unrelated to the above ECB
litigation, entitled New Sky Communications, Inc., As Successor-In-Interest To
Thomas M. Wicker, Thomas M.Wicker Enterprises, Inc. and Document Security
Consultants V. Adler Technologies, Inc. N/K/A Adlertech International, Inc. and
Andrew McTaggert (United States District Court, Western District Of New York
Case No.03-Cv-6044t(F)) regarding certain intellectual property in which the
Company has an interest. The Company commenced this action alleging various
causes of action against Adler Technologies, Inc. and Andrew McTaggert for
breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, various
business torts, including unfair competition and declaratory relief. Adler
distributes and supplies anti-counterfeit document products and Mr. McTaggert is
a principal of Adler. Adler had entered into several purported agreements with
Thomas M. Wicker Enterprises and Document Security Consultants, both of which
the Company acquired in 2002. These alleged agreements, generally, would have
authorized Adler to manufacture in Canada the Company’s “Checkmate®” patented
system for verifying the authenticity of currency and documents. Other purported
agreements were signed between these parties and Thomas Wicker regarding other
technology claimed to have been owned by Wicker and assigned to the
Company. Among other things, the Company contends that certain of the
purported agreements are not binding and/or enforceable. To the
extent any of them are binding and enforceable, the Company claims that Adler
has breached these purported agreements, failed to make an appropriate
accounting and payments under them, and may have exceeded the scope of its
license. Adler has denied the material allegations of the complaint and has
counterclaimed against the Company, claiming Adler owns or co-owns or has a
license to use certain of the Company’s technologies. In May 2005,
the Company filed a first amended and supplemental complaint adding Blanks/USA
and Raymond Maxon as additional defendants. In February 2007, the
Company filed a second amended and supplemental complaint adding Judith Wu
(McTaggert’s wife) and Arcis Digital Security, Inc. (a company in which Ms. Wu
is involved) as additional defendants. Maxon has asserted a
counterclaim against the Company contending that the Company’s purported
acquisition of a certain patent from Thomas Wicker in 2002 gave rise to an
alleged right on the part of Maxon to receive a portion of Thomas Wicker’s
proceeds from such acquisition. The Company has denied the material
allegations of all of the counterclaims. If Adler or Maxon is
successful, it may materially affect the Company, the Company’s financial
condition, and the Company’s ability to market and sell certain of the Company
technology and related products. This case is in discovery phase, and
it is too soon to determine how the various issues raised by the lawsuit will be
determined.
In
addition to the foregoing, we are subject to other legal proceedings that have
arisen in the ordinary course of business and have not been finally adjudicated.
Although there can be no assurance in this regard, in the opinion of management,
none of the legal proceedings to which we are a party, whether discussed herein
or otherwise, will have a material adverse effect on our results of operations,
cash flows or our financial condition.
Stock
Subscription Agreements -In June 2008, the Company entered into two Stock
Purchase Agreements in which it sold 500,000 shares of its common stock to
Walton Invesco Inc. for an aggregate purchase price of $2.0 million (see Note
7). Pursuant to the terms of such Stock Purchase Agreements, Walton
Invesco Inc. may demand registration of such 500,000 shares with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on Form S-3 with such registration statement to take
effect no later than (i) 120 days after payment in full for such shares under
the applicable agreement or, (ii) with respect to 350,000 shares, 270 days after
a Payment Failure Termination Event (as defined in the applicable Stock Purchase
Agreement). As of March 31, 2009, the share subscription was
not current and the Company is reviewing its options under the Agreement, which
may include termination of the agreement.
NOTE
14. - SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW INFORMATION
F-25
2008
|
2007
|
|||||||
Cash
paid for interest
|
$ | 69,000 | $ | 5,000 | ||||
Non-cash
investing and financing activities:
|
||||||||
Equity
issued for patent defense costs
|
- | 746,000 | ||||||
Modificaton
of equity awards for license agreement
|
- | 521,000 | ||||||
Equity
issued for severance agreements
|
129,000 | - | ||||||
Equity
issued for prepaid services
|
- | 561,000 | ||||||
Equity
issued to satisfy an obligation
|
94,000 | - | ||||||
Equipment
purchased via capital lease
|
- | 325,000 | ||||||
Deferred
tax liability offsetting additional paid in capital
|
(156,000 | ) | 181,000 | |||||
Warrants
issued with debt
|
256,000 | - |
NOTE
15. - SEGMENT INFORMATION
The
Company's businesses are organized, managed and internally reported as four
operating segments. Three of these operating segments, Document
Security Systems, Plastic Printing Professionals, and DPI Secuprint, are engaged
in various aspects of developing and applying printing technologies and
procedures to produce, or allow others to produce, documents with a wide range
of features, including the Company’s patented technologies and trade
secrets. For the purposes of providing segment information, these
three operating segments have been aggregated into one reportable segment in
accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Statement No. 131-
“Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related
Information”. A summary of the two segments is as
follows:
Security
and
Commercial
Printing
|
License,
manufacture and sale of patented document security technologies, including
digital security print solutions, and general commercial printing,
primarily on paper and plastic. Comprises the operations of
Document Security Systems, Plastic Printing Professionals, and DPI
Secuprint, which the Company acquired on December 18, 2008. In
September 2007, the Company sold the assets of its retail printing and
copying division. The results of this division are reported as
discontinued operations and are not a component of these segment results
.
|
Legal
Supplies
|
Sale
of specialty legal supplies, primarily to lawyers and law firms located
throughout the United States as
Legalstore.com.
|
Approximate
information concerning the Company’s operations by reportable segment as of and
for the year ended December 31, 2008 and 2007 is as follows. The Company
relies on intersegment cooperation and management does not represent that these
segments, if operated independently, would report the results contained
herein:
F-26
2008
|
Legal
Supplies
|
Security and
Commercial
Printing
|
Corporate
|
Total
|
||||||||||||
Revenues
from external customers
|
$ | 610,000 | $ | 6,033,000 | $ | - | $ | 6,643,000 | ||||||||
Interest
Expense and amortization of note discount
|
- | - | 145,000 | 145,000 | ||||||||||||
Stock
based payments
|
- | 1,148,000 | 599,000 | 1,747,000 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
15,000 | 2,269,000 | 4,000 | 2,288,000 | ||||||||||||
Impairment of patent defense costs and other intangible assets | - | 797,000 | - | 797,000 | ||||||||||||
Loss on sale of patent | - | (1,170,000 | ) | - | (1,170,000 | ) | ||||||||||
Operating
(loss) profit
|
(6,000 | ) | (4,709,000 | ) | (2,304,000 | ) | (7,019,000 | ) | ||||||||
Capital
Expenditures
|
12,000 | 1,669,000 | 3,000 | 1,684,000 | ||||||||||||
Identifiable
assets
|
252,000 | 7,705,000 | 100,000 | 8,057,000 | ||||||||||||
2007
|
||||||||||||||||
Revenues
from external customers
|
$ | 682,000 | $ | 5,309,000 | $ | - | $ | 5,991,000 | ||||||||
Interest
Income
|
- | - | 93,000 | 93,000 | ||||||||||||
Interest
Expense
|
- | - | 5,000 | 5,000 | ||||||||||||
Stock
based payments
|
- | 1,180,000 | 175,000 | 1,355,000 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
12,000 | 1,896,000 | 37,000 | 1,945,000 | ||||||||||||
Operating
(loss) profit
|
6,000 | (3,943,000 | ) | (3,084,000 | ) | (7,021,000 | ) | |||||||||
Capital
Expenditures
|
16,000 | 2,898,000 | - | 2,914,000 | ||||||||||||
Identifiable
assets
|
420,000 | 10,561,000 | 613,000 | 11,594,000 |
International
revenue, which consists of sales to customers with operations in Western Europe,
Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Asia comprised 4% of total revenue for
2008, (13%- 2007). Revenue is allocated to individual countries by
customer based on where the product is shipped to, location of services
performed or the location of equipment that is under an annual maintenance
agreement. The Company had no long-lived assets in any country other
than the United States for any period presented.
Major
Customers –
During
2008, two customers accounted for 11% and 10% of the Company’s total revenue
from continuing operations, respectively. As of December 31, 2008,
one customer account receivable balance that was acquired as part of the
Company’s acquisition of the assets of a commercial printer in December 2008,
accounted for 42% of the Company’s trade accounts receivable
balance. During 2007, one customer accounted for 13% of the
Company’s total revenue from continuing operations. As of December
31, 2007, one customer accounted for 16% of the Company’s trade accounts
receivable balance.
NOTE
16. – SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
In March
2009, the Company entered into two operating lease agreements for production
equipment for its DPI Secuprint division. Total lease
commitments associated with these leases are as follows:
2009
|
275,871 | |||
2010
|
|
422,131 | ||
2011
|
|
440,348 | ||
2012
|
|
394,419 | ||
2013
|
274,175 | |||
Thereafter
|
545,921 | |||
Total
|
$ | 2,352,865 |
F-27
SIGNATURES
In
accordance with Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on
its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
DOCUMENT SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. | ||
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Patrick White
|
Patrick
White
Chief
Executive
Officer
|
In
accordance with Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on
its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Robert Fagenson
|
|
Robert
Fagenson
Director
|
|
|
||
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Patrick White
|
|
Patrick
White
Chief
Executive Officer and Director
(Principal
Executive Officer)
|
|
|
||
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
David Wicker
|
|
David
Wicker
Vice
President and Director
|
|
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Timothy Ashman
|
|
Timothy
Ashman
Director
|
|
|
||
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Alan E. Harrison
|
|
Alan
E. Harrison
Director
|
|
|
||
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Ira A. Greenstein
|
|
Ira
A. Greenstein
Director
|
|
|
||
March
31, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/
Philip Jones
|
|
Philip
Jones
Vice
President of Finance and Treasurer
(Principal
Financial Officer and Principal Accounting
Officer)
|
40