VirnetX Holding Corp - Quarter Report: 2009 March (Form 10-Q)
Table of Contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
þ | QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2009
OR
o | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Commission file number 001-33852
VirnetX Holding Corporation
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware | 77-0390628 | |
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
5615 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite 110 | ||
Scotts Valley, California | 95066 | |
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) | (Zip Code) |
(831) 438-8200
(Registrants Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
(Registrants Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
Not applicable
(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)
(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)
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 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 þ No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on
its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and
posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such
shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes o
No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated
filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of large
accelerated filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company in Rule 12b-2 of the
Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer o | Accelerated filer þ | Non-accelerated filer o | Smaller reporting company o | |||
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company) |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the
Exchange Act). Yes o No þ
The number of shares outstanding of the Registrants Common Stock as of May 5, 2009 was 37,369,985.
VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
INDEX
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Exhibit 31.1 | ||||||||
Exhibit 31.2 | ||||||||
Exhibit 32.1 | ||||||||
Exhibit 32.2 |
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PART I FINANCIAL INFORMATION
ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
(a development stage enterprise)
(a development stage enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
March 31, | December 31, | |||||||
2009 | 2008 | |||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||
ASSETS |
||||||||
Current assets |
||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 1,526,042 | $ | 457,155 | ||||
Accounts receivable, net |
2,730 | 1,154 | ||||||
Prepaid expense and other current assets |
193,772 | 189,847 | ||||||
Total current assets |
1,722,544 | 648,156 | ||||||
Property and equipment, net |
28,895 | 32,565 | ||||||
Intangible and other assets |
192,000 | 204,000 | ||||||
Deferred offering costs |
| 94,261 | ||||||
Total assets |
$ | 1,943,439 | $ | 978,982 | ||||
See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements
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VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
(a development stage enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(a development stage enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
March 31, | December 31, | |||||||
2009 | 2008 | |||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||
LIABILITIES
AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY (DEFICIT) |
||||||||
Current liabilities |
||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses |
$ | 2,123,351 | $ | 1,669,333 | ||||
Current portion of long-term obligation |
40,000 | 44,000 | ||||||
Total current liabilities |
2,163,351 | 1,713,333 | ||||||
Long-term obligation, net of current portion |
120,000 | 160,000 | ||||||
Commitments and contingencies |
||||||||
Stockholders equity |
||||||||
Preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per
share, authorized 10,000,000 shares issued
and outstanding: 0 shares at March 31, 2009
and December 31, 2008, respectively |
| | ||||||
Common stock, par value $0.0001 per share,
authorized 100,000,000 shares, issued and
outstanding: 37,369,985 shares at March 31,
2009 and 34,899,985 at December 31, 2008,
respectively |
3,737 | 3,489 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital |
26,107,520 | 22,150,321 | ||||||
Deficit
Accumulated during the development stage |
(26,451,169 | ) | (23,048,161 | ) | ||||
Total
stockholders equity (deficit) |
(339,912 | ) | (894,351 | ) | ||||
Total
liabilities and stockholders equity (deficit) |
$ | 1,943,439 | $ | 978,982 | ||||
See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements
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VIRNETX
HOLDING CORPORATION
(a development stage enterprise)
(a development stage enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
For the period | ||||||||||||
August 2, 2005 | ||||||||||||
Three Months Ended | Three Months Ended | (Date of Inception) | ||||||||||
March 31, 2009 | March 31, 2008 | to March 31, 2009 | ||||||||||
Revenue royalties |
$ | 3,154 | $ | 33,306 | $ | 211,764 | ||||||
Operating expense |
||||||||||||
Research and development |
221,699 | 177,714 | 2,361,526 | |||||||||
General and administrative |
3,186,690 | 2,957,908 | 24,417,558 | |||||||||
Total operating expense |
(3,408,389 | ) | (3,135,622 | ) | (26,779,084 | ) | ||||||
Loss from operations |
(3,405,235 | ) | (3,102,316 | ) | (26,567,320 | ) | ||||||
Interest and other income, net |
2,227 | 70,581 | 116,151 | |||||||||
Net loss |
$ | (3,403,008 | ) | $ | (3,031,735 | ) | $ | (26,451,169 | ) | |||
Basic and diluted loss per share |
$ | (0.09 | ) | $ | (0.09 | ) | ||||||
Weighted average shares outstanding |
37,016,763 | 34,810,099 | ||||||||||
See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements
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VIRNETX
HOLDING CORPORATION
(a development stage enterprise)
(a development stage enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Unaudited)
Cumulative Period | ||||||||||||
from | ||||||||||||
August 2, 2005 | ||||||||||||
Three Months Ended | Three Months Ended | (Date of Inception) | ||||||||||
March 31, 2009 | March 31, 2008 | to March 31, 2009 | ||||||||||
Cash flows from operating activities: |
||||||||||||
Net loss |
$ | (3,403,008 | ) | $ | (3,031,735 | ) | $ | (26,451,169 | ) | |||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used
in operating activities: |
||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation |
683,784 | 613,848 | 5,196,833 | |||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
15,670 | 3,967 | 110,591 | |||||||||
Changes in assets and liabilities: |
||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other assets |
(5,502 | ) | 26,363 | (305,998 | ) | |||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities |
454,018 | 535,644 | 2,123,559 | |||||||||
Net cash used in operating activities |
(2,255,038 | ) | (1,851,913 | ) | (19,326,184 | ) | ||||||
Cash flows from investing activities: |
||||||||||||
Purchase of property and equipment |
| (6,538 | ) | (43,671 | ) | |||||||
Cash acquired in acquisition |
| | (20,767 | ) | ||||||||
Net cash used in investing activities |
| (6,538 | ) | (64,438 | ) | |||||||
Cash flows from financing activities: |
||||||||||||
Issuance of notes payable |
| | 250,000 | |||||||||
Repayment of notes payable |
| | (250,000 | ) | ||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of preferred stock, net of
issuance costs |
| | 1,147,625 | |||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of restricted stock units |
| | 2,180 | |||||||||
Proceeds from advance from preferred stockholders |
| | 230,000 | |||||||||
Proceeds from exercise of options |
| | 30,000 | |||||||||
Proceeds from convertible debt |
| | 1,500,000 | |||||||||
Payment of royalty obligation less
imputed interest |
(44,000 | ) | (48,000 | ) | (92,000 | ) | ||||||
Proceeds
from sale of common stock, net |
3,367,925 | | 18,098,859 | |||||||||
Net cash provided by (used in)
financing activities |
3,323,925 | (48,000 | ) | 20,916,664 | ||||||||
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
1,068,887 | (1,906,451 | ) | 1,526,042 | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period |
457,155 | 8,589,447 | | |||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period |
$ | 1,526,042 | $ | 6,682,996 | $ | 1,526,042 | ||||||
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: |
||||||||||||
Cash paid during the period for taxes |
$ | 2,173 | $ | | $ | 12,174 | ||||||
Cash paid during the period for interest |
$ | 6,000 | $ | | $ | 53,252 | ||||||
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and
financing activities: |
||||||||||||
Conversion of advance into preferred stock |
$ | | $ | | $ | 230,000 | ||||||
Royalty obligation assumed to obtain intangible assets |
$ | | $ | | $ | 252,000 |
See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements
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VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
(a development stage enterprise)
(a development stage enterprise)
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(Unaudited)
Note 1 Basis of Presentation
Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements
prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP)
have been condensed or omitted. Results of operations for the interim periods presented are not
necessarily indicative of results which may be expected for any other interim period or for the
year as a whole. The accompanying unaudited interim financial statements include all adjustments
(consisting of normal recurring adjustments) which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for
a fair presentation. The information contained in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q should be read
in conjunction with the audited financial statements and related notes for the year ended
December 31, 2008 which are contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC), on March 31, 2009.
These financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis that contemplates the
realization of assets and discharge of liabilities in the normal course of business. We have
incurred net operating losses and negative cash flows from operations. At March 31, 2009, we had a
deficit accumulated in the development stage of $26,451,169. Management believes that the first
half of 2009 average monthly cash requirement to fund our business is unlikely to change materially
from our 2009 first quarter cash flow rate. As a result, we anticipate that our cash balance at
March 31, 2009 will be insufficient to fund our operations for longer than through the end of our
second quarter of 2009. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments
relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and
classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a
going concern.
Note 2 Formation and Business of the Company
VirnetX Holding Corporation, a Delaware corporation (we, us, our or the Company) is a
development stage company focused on commercializing a patent portfolio for providing solutions for
secure real-time communications such as instant messaging (IM) and voice over internet protocol
(VoIP.)
In July 2007, we effected a merger between PASW, Inc., a company which had at the time of the
merger, publicly traded common stock with limited operations, and VirnetX Inc., which became our
principal operating subsidiary. As a result of this merger, the former securityholders of VirnetX
Inc. came to own a majority of our outstanding common stock.
Under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, the accompanying
financial statements have been prepared as if VirnetX Inc., a company whose inception date was
August 2, 2005 and who is our predecessor for accounting purposes, had acquired PASW, Inc. on July
5, 2007. Accordingly, the accompanying statement of operations include the operations of VirnetX
Inc. from August 2, 2005 to March 31, 2009 and the operations of PASW, Inc. from July 5, 2007 to
March 31, 2009. The historical share activity of VirnetX Inc. has been retroactively restated to
account for the 12.454788-to-one exchange rate which was applicable to certain convertible
instruments as explained in Note 10 and Note 11 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2008 and for our one-for-three reverse stock split which was implemented on
October 29, 2007.
Our principal business activities to date are our efforts to commercialize our patent
portfolio. We also conduct the remaining activities of PASW, Inc., which are generally limited to
the collection of royalties on certain internet-based communications through our wholly-owned
Japanese subsidiary pursuant to the terms of a single license agreement. The revenue generated by
this agreement is not significant.
Although we believe we may derive revenues in the future from our principal patent portfolio
and are currently endeavoring to develop certain of those patents into marketable products, we have
not done so to date. As such, we are in the development stage and consequently are subject to the
risks associated with development stage companies, including the need for additional financings,
the uncertainty that our licensing program development efforts will produce revenue-bearing
licenses for us, the uncertainty that our development initiatives will produce successful
commercial products as well as the uncertainty of marketing and customer acceptance of such
products.
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Note 3 Earnings Per Share
SFAS No. 128 Earnings Per Share requires presentation of basic earnings per share and
diluted earnings per share. Basic earnings per share are computed by dividing earnings available to
common stockholders by the weighted average number of outstanding common shares during the period.
Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of
shares outstanding including potentially dilutive securities such as options, warrants and
convertible debt. Because we incurred a loss for each period presented, all such potentially
dilutive securities have been excluded because their effect would be anti-dilutive.
Note 4 Patent Portfolio
As of March 31, 2009, we had 12 issued U.S. technology related patents and eight issued
foreign technology related patents. In addition, we have several pending U.S. and foreign patent
applications. The expiration dates of our issued U.S. and foreign patents run from 2019 to 2024.
Most of our issued patents were acquired by our principal operating subsidiary, VirnetX Inc., from
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) pursuant to an Assignment Agreement dated
December 21, 2006, and a Patent License and Assignment Agreement dated August 12, 2005, as amended
on November 2, 2006, including documents prepared pursuant to the November amendment, and as
further amended on March 12, 2008. We are required to make payments to SAIC based on the revenue
generated from our ownership or use of the patents assigned to us by SAIC. Minimum annual royalty
payments of $50,000 are due beginning in 2008. Royalty amounts vary depending upon the type of
revenue generating activities, and certain royalty categories are subject to maximums and other
limitations. SAIC is entitled to receive a portion of the proceed revenues, monies or any form of
consideration paid for the acquisition of VirnetX or from the settlement of certain patent
infringement claims of ours. We have granted SAIC a security interest in some of our intellectual
property, including the patents and patent applications we obtained from SAIC, to secure these
payment obligations.
Generally upon our default of our agreement with SAIC and certain other events, we are
required to convey to SAIC our interests in the patents and patent applications acquired from SAIC
without consideration.
Note 5 Commitments
We lease our office facility under a non-cancelable operating lease that was amended in 2008
and ends in 2012. We recognize rent expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.
Minimum Required Lease | ||||
For the Period | Payments in Period | |||
April 1 through December 31, 2009 |
$ | 34,964 | ||
2010 |
54,595 | |||
2011 |
59,242 | |||
2012 |
30,202 | |||
$ | 179,003 | |||
Note 6 Stock Plan
In 2005, VirnetX Inc. adopted the 2005 Stock Plan (the Plan), which was assumed by us upon
the closing of the transaction between VirnetX Holding Corporation and VirnetX Inc. on July 5,
2007. Our Board of Directors renamed this Plan the VirnetX 2007 Stock Plan and our stockholders
approved the Plan at our 2008 annual stockholders meeting. The Plan provides for the granting of
stock options and restricted stock units to employees and consultants of ours. Stock options
granted under the Plan may be incentive stock options or nonqualified stock options. Incentive
stock options (ISO) may only be granted to our employees (including officers and directors).
Nonqualified stock options (NSO) may be granted to our employees and consultants.
Options under the Plan may be granted for a period of up to ten years and at prices no less
than 85% of the estimated fair market value of the shares on the date of grant as determined by the
board of directors, provided, however, that the exercise price of an ISO and NSO shall not be less
than 100% or 85% of the estimated fair market value of the shares at the date of grant,
respectively, and the exercise price of an ISO and NSO granted to a 10% stockholder shall not be
less than 110% of the estimated fair value of the shares on the date of grant.
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There were 4,468,595 options outstanding at March 31, 2009 and 4,468,595 at December 31, 2008
with an average exercise price of $2.98 at March 31, 2009 and $2.98 at December 31, 2008. As of
March 31, 2009, there were 2,651,392 shares available to be granted under the Plan.
During the period January 1, 2009 through March 31, 2009, no options were exercised.
On April 3, 2009 there were 1,287,195 options granted to employees at a strike price of $1.15. As of April 3, 2009 there
were 5,755,790 options outstanding with an average exercise price of $2.57. There are 1,364,197
shares available to be granted under the plan as of April 3, 2009.
Note 7 Stock-Based Compensation
We account for equity instruments issued to employees in accordance with the provision of
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 123(R) (SFAS 123(R)), which requires that
such issuances be recorded at their fair value on the grant date. The recognition of the expense is
subject to periodic adjustment as the underlying equity instruments vest.
We have elected to adopt the modified retrospective application method as provided by SFAS
123(R) and, accordingly, financial statement amounts for the periods presented herein reflect
results as if the fair value method of expensing equity awards had been applied from inception.
Stock-based compensation expense is included in general and administrative expense for each
period ended March 31, 2009. Total stock-based compensation expense was $683,784 and $613,848 for
the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively.
As of March 31, 2009, the deferred stock-based compensation related to unvested stock options
was $6,693,045, which will be amortized as an expense over the related vesting period. As of March
31, 2009, the weighted average vesting period was approximately 2.25 years.
The fair value of option grants was estimated on the date of grant using the following
assumptions:
Three Months Ended | Year Ended | |||||||
March 31, 2009 | December 31, 2008 | |||||||
Volatility |
190.00 | % | 190.00 | % | ||||
Risk-free interest rate |
4.21 | % | 4.21 | % | ||||
Expected life |
6.1 years | 6.7 years | ||||||
Expected dividends |
0.00 | % | 0.00 | % | ||||
Weighted-average grant date fair value of stock options granted |
$ | 2.98 | $ | 3.09 |
The expected life was determined using the simplified method outlined in Staff Accounting
Bulletin (SAB) 107 extended by SAB 110, using the average of the vesting term and the contractual
term of the option. Expected volatility of the stock options was based upon historical data and
other relevant factors, such as the volatility of comparable publicly-traded companies at a similar
stage of life cycle. The Company has not provided an estimate for forfeitures because the Company
has no history of forfeited options and believes that all outstanding options at March 31, 2009
will vest. In the future, the Company may change this estimate based on actual and expected future
forfeiture rates.
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Note 8 Warrants
During 2007, we issued warrants to purchase 266,667 shares of our common stock at $0.75 per
share. The warrants expire in 2012. In 2008, these warrants were exercised in cashless exercise
transactions, as a result of which a total of 232,771 shares of our common stock were issued.
During 2007, we issued warrants to purchase 300,000 shares of our common stock at $4.80 per
share to the underwriter of our December 2007 stock issuance. Those warrants expire in 2012.
In January 2009, we closed an underwritten public offering of 2,470,000 shares of our common
stock. In addition to shares of common stock sold, we also issued warrants to the purchasers in
the public offering to purchase 1,235,000 shares of our common stock at $2.00 per share, warrants
to purchase 1,235,000 shares of our common stock at $3.00 per share, and warrants to purchase
1,235,000 shares of our common stock at $4.00 per share.
Also in connection with the January 2009 offering, we issued a warrant to purchase 220,000
shares of our common stock at $1.80 per share to the underwriter of that offering.
Copies of the forms of warrants issued to the purchasers and the underwriter of the January
2009 offering are filed as exhibits to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Note 9 Litigation
We believe Microsoft Corporation is infringing certain of our patents. Accordingly, we
commenced a lawsuit against Microsoft on February 15, 2007 by filing a complaint in the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. Pursuant to the complaint,
we allege that Microsoft infringes two of our U.S. patents: U.S. Patent No. 6,502,135 B1, entitled
Agile Network Protocol for Secure Communications with Assured System Availability, and U.S.
Patent No. 6,839,759 B2, entitled Method for Establishing Secure Communication Link Between
Computers of Virtual Private Network Without User Entering Any Cryptographic Information. On April
5, 2007, we filed an amended complaint specifying certain accused products at issue and alleging
infringement of a third, recently issued U.S. patent: U.S. Patent No. 7,188,180 B2, entitled
Method for Establishing Secure Communication Link Between Computers of Virtual Private Network.
We are seeking both damages, in an amount subject to proof at trial, and injunctive relief.
Microsoft answered the amended complaint and asserted counterclaims against us on May 4, 2007.
Microsoft counterclaimed for declarations that the three patents are not infringed, are invalid and
are unenforceable. Microsoft seeks an award of its attorneys fees and costs. We filed a reply to
Microsofts counterclaims on May 24, 2007. Discovery has begun and the trial is scheduled to begin
on October 12, 2009. We have served our infringement contentions directed to certain of Microsofts
operating system and unified messaging and collaboration applications. On March 31, 2008, Microsoft
filed a Motion to Dismiss for lack of standing, which was denied by the court pursuant to an order
dated June 3, 2008. Also pursuant to that court decision, on June 10, 2008, SAIC joined us in our
lawsuit as a plaintiff. On November 19, 2008, the court granted our motion to amend our
infringement contentions, permitting us to provide increased specificity and citations to
Microsofts proprietary documents and source code to support our infringement case against
Microsofts accused products, including, among other things, Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, Server
2008, Live Communication Server, Office Communication Server and Office Communicator. Microsoft was
ordered to provide further information regarding its non-infringement contentions and invalidity
contentions in light of the amended infringement contentions. Microsoft was also ordered to provide
additional e-mail discovery to us. On February 17, 2009, a Markman hearing on claim construction
was conducted and we are currently awaiting the Courts order with respect to the hearing.
Although we believe Microsoft infringes three of our patents and we intend to vigorously
prosecute this case, at this stage of the litigation the outcome cannot be predicted with any
degree of reasonable certainty. Additionally, the Microsoft litigation will be costly and
time-consuming, and we can provide no assurance that we will obtain a judgment against Microsoft
for damages and/or injunctive relief. Should the District Court issue a judgment in favor of
Microsoft, such judgment could be adverse to us.
Because the outcome of this litigation cannot be estimated at this time, we have made no
provision for gain or expenses in the accompanying financial statements.
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ITEM 2 MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including this Managements Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which provides a safe harbor for
statements about future events, products and future financial performance that are based on the
beliefs of, estimates made by and information currently available to our management. Except for the
historical information contained herein, the outcome of the events described in these
forward-looking statements is subject to risks and uncertainties. See Risk Factors for a
discussion of these risks and uncertainties. The following discussion should be read in conjunction
with and is qualified in its entirety by reference to our consolidated financial statements
included elsewhere in this report. Actual results and the outcome or timing of certain events may
differ significantly from those stated or implied by these forward-looking statements due to the
factors listed under Risk Factors, and from time to time in our other filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC.) For this purpose, using the terms believe, expect,
expectation, anticipate, can, should, would, could, estimate, appear, based on,
may, intended, potential, indicate, are emerging and possible or similar statements are
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results
and the outcome and timing of certain events to differ materially from those stated or implied by
these forward-looking statements. By making forward-looking statements, we have not assumed any
obligation to, and you should not expect us to, update or revise those statements because of new
information, future events or otherwise.
As used herein, we, us, our, or the Company means VirnetX Holding Corporation,
together with its consolidated subsidiaries where applicable.
Company Overview
We are a development stage company focused on commercializing a patent portfolio for securing
real-time communications over the Internet. These patents were acquired by our principal operating
subsidiary, VirnetX Inc., from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC.) SAIC is a
FORTUNE 500® scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that uses its
deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in
national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health.
In January 2009, we closed an underwritten public offering of 2,470,000 shares of our common
stock, including 270,000 of which were issued pursuant to the underwriters over-allotment option,
plus warrants to purchase 1,235,000 shares of common stock at $2.00 per share, including 135,000 of
which were issued pursuant to the underwriters over-allotment option, warrants to purchase
1,235,000 shares of common stock at $3.00 per share, including 135,000 of which were issued
pursuant to the underwriters over-allotment option, and warrants to purchase 1,235,000 shares of
common stock at $4.00 per share, including 135,000 of which were issued pursuant to the
underwriters over-allotment option. The offering at $1.50 per unit raised gross proceeds of
approximately $3,700,000 before deducting the underwriters fees and other costs of the offering.
The net cash raised was approximately $3,300,000.
In December 2007, we closed an underwritten public offering of 3.45 million shares of our
common stock, raising gross proceeds of $13.8 million before underwriting discounts and commissions
and offering expenses. In connection with the 2007 offering, our common stock began trading on the
American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol VHC. After the acquisition of the American Stock
Exchange by the New York Stock Exchange in 2008, our common stock now trades under the ticker
symbol VHC on the NYSE Amex. Our principal business activities to date are our efforts to
commercialize our patent portfolio. We also conduct the remaining activities of PASW, Inc., which
are generally limited to the collection of royalties on certain Internet-based communications by a
wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary of ours pursuant to the terms of a single license agreement. The
revenue generated by this agreement is not significant.
Although we believe we may derive revenues in the future from our principal patent portfolio
and are currently endeavoring to develop certain of those patents into marketable products, we have
not done so to date. Because we have limited capital resources, our revenues are insignificant and
our expenses, including but not limited to those we expect to incur in our patent infringement case
against Microsoft, are substantial, we may be unable to successfully complete our business plans,
our business may fail and your investment in our securities may become worthless. See Risk
Factors for additional information.
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We are in the development stage and consequently we are subject to the risks associated with
development stage companies including: the need for additional financings; the uncertainty that our
patent and technology licensing program development efforts will produce revenue bearing licenses
for us; the uncertainty that our development initiatives will produce successful commercial
products as well as the marketing and customer acceptance of such products; competition from larger
organizations; dependence on key personnel; uncertain patent protection; and dependence on
corporate partners and collaborators. To achieve successful operations, we will require additional
capital to continue research and development and marketing efforts. No assurance can be given as to
the timing or ultimate success of obtaining future funding.
Recent Developments in the Three Months Ended March 31, 2009
On January 30, 2009, we closed an underwritten public offering of 2,470,000 shares of our
common stock at $1.50 per share. As further described in the prospectus for the offering filed on
SECs EDGAR filing website, www.sec.gov, for each share purchased in the offering, an investor
received registered warrants to purchase 0.5 shares of our common stock at $2.00 per share, 0.5
shares of our common stock at $3.00 per share and 0.5 shares of our common stock at $4.00 per
share.
On February 10, 2009, VirnetX Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary, was awarded U.S. patent
number 7,490,151 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The new patent, titled
Establishment of a secure communication link based on a domain name service (DNS) request
describes a secure mechanism for communication over the Internet. In conjunction with the issuance
of this patent, we will seek to commercialize these exclusive rights in the United States by
establishing the secure domain name registry service for the Internet. Additional information about
the patent can be found at the Internet website www.uspto.gov.
On February 19, 2009, the Markman hearing on claim construction was conducted in connection
with the Microsoft litigation and we are currently awaiting the Courts order with respect to the
hearing.
On March 13, 2009, the common stock warrants issued in connection with our public offering
that closed on January 30, 2009 were approved for listing on the OTC Bulletin Board under the
symbols VHCOW, VHCOZ and VHCOL.
Application of Critical Accounting Policies
There were no material changes in the application of the Companys critical accounting
policies since the end of the most recent fiscal year. For further information, see the Critical
Accounting Policies section of Item 7, Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations, in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2009.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
There were no material updates to recent accounting pronouncements since the end of the most
recent fiscal year. For further information, see the Recent Accounting Pronouncements section of
Item 7, Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on
March 31, 2009.
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Results of Operations
Three Months Ended March 31, 2009
Compared with Three Months Ended March 31, 2008
Compared with Three Months Ended March 31, 2008
Revenue Royalties
Revenue generated decreased to $3,154 for the three months ended March 31, 2009 from $33,306
for the three months ended March 31, 2008. Our revenue in 2009 was solely limited to the royalties
earned under our single license agreement through our Japanese subsidiary. We expect the revenue
from this license to decrease substantially in the future. We do not intend to seek additional
licenses or other revenue through our Japanese subsidiary.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development costs include expenses paid to outside development consultants and
compensation related expenses for our engineering staff. Research and development costs are
expensed as incurred.
Our research and development expenses increased by $43,985 to $221,699 for the three months
ended March 31, 2009, from $177,714 for the three months ended March 31, 2008. This increase is
primarily due to increased engineering activities for product development and the addition of one
engineer. We expect research and development expenses to increase as employees are hired to provide
in-house research and development. While we expect to use outside contractors for additional
product development on a limited basis, we expect those costs to remain level or decline.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses include management and administrative personnel,
as well as outside legal, accounting, and consulting services.
Our selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $228,782 to $3,186,690 for the
three months ended March 31, 2009 from $2,957,908 for the three month period ended March 31, 2008.
Within selling, general and administrative expenses, legal fees increased by $158,737 to
$1,772,583 for the three months ended March 31, 2009 from $1,613,846 for the three months ended
March 31, 2008. The increase in fees incurred was due primarily to our patent infringement
litigation against Microsoft and preparation of annual meeting and proxy statement.
In addition, during the three months ended March 31, 2009, we made our second minimum annual
royalty payment of $50,000 to SAIC pursuant to the patent license and assignment agreement, as
amended, by and between VirnetX and SAIC. As of March 31, 2009, we had not received any royalty
revenue on the patents.
Also within selling, general and administrative expenses, expenses increased by $70,045 for
the three months ended March 31, 2009. The increase was due principally to an increase in rent over
the same period in 2008 and the number of staff and resources in order to comply with the
requirements associated with being an SEC reporting company.
Once we begin to generate royalty revenues, we expect that our selling expenses will increase
significantly as we must make payments to ipCapital Group and SAIC with respect to such revenues
and as we begin to expand our sales force.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
We are in the development stage and have raised capital since our inception through the
issuance of our equity securities. As of March 31, 2009, we had approximately $1,526,000 in cash.
We expect to finance future cash needs primarily through proceeds from equity or debt financings,
loans, and/or collaborative agreements with corporate partners. We have used the net proceeds from
the sale of common and preferred stock for general corporate purposes, which have included funding
research and development, litigation efforts and working capital needs.
We anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents are insufficient to fund our
operations for longer than through the end of our second quarter of 2009. In order to obtain
additional capital, we expect to evaluate alternative financing sources, including, but not limited
to, the issuance of equity or debt securities, corporate alliances, joint ventures and licensing
agreements; however, there can be no assurance that funding will be available on favorable terms,
if at all. We cannot assure you that we will successfully commercialize our products and services
or that our products and services will gain sufficient market acceptance to enable us to earn a
profit. If we are unable to obtain additional capital or generate sufficient revenue from such
efforts, we may be required to cease operations or to reduce cash used in our business, including
the termination of commercialization efforts that may appear to be promising, the sale of our
patent portfolio or other assets, the abandonment of our litigation with Microsoft or others and
the reduction in overall operating activities.
During fiscal year 2008, the cash flow for our operations was approximately $8,064,000 (an
average of approximately $672,000 per month.) During the first quarter of 2009, our cash used in
operating activities averaged $751,679 per month. We believe that, for the first half of 2009, our
average monthly cash requirement to fund our operations is unlikely to change materially from our
2009 first quarter cash flow rate. As a result, we anticipate that our cash balance at March 31,
2009 of $1,526,000 will be insufficient to fund our operations for longer than through the end of
our second quarter of 2009. We anticipate that our monthly cash requirements will increase for the
second half of 2009 as we increase our expenditures for:
| our lawsuit against Microsoft; |
||
| infrastructure; |
||
| sales and marketing; |
||
| research and development; |
||
| personnel; and |
||
| general business enhancements. |
We may exceed those projected amounts if we increase these expenditures in response to
business conditions we do not currently expect or for other reasons. The process of developing new
security solutions is inherently complex, time-consuming, expensive and uncertain. We must make
long-term investments and commit significant resources before knowing whether our patented
technology offerings will achieve market acceptance. We are unable to predict when we will begin to
generate material net cash inflows from our patent and technology licensing program and our secure
domain name registry service.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of March 31, 2009, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements except for operating
lease commitments and the contingent portion of our royalty obligation under our royalty agreement
with SAIC as discussed in Note 5 Commitments and Note 6 Patent Portfolio to the financial
statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.
ITEM 3 QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK.
Not Applicable.
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ITEM 4 CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
(a) Disclosure controls and procedures. Our management, with the participation of our Chief
Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure
controls and procedures (as such items are defined in Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act)) as of the end of the period covered
by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and
Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of
the period covered by this Quarterly Report are effective to ensure that information we are
required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and
communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer,
as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure, and that such information
is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SECs
rules and forms.
(b) Changes in internal control over financial reporting. There was no change in our internal
control over financial reporting during the quarter ended March 31, 2009 that has materially
affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial
reporting.
PART II OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
We believe Microsoft Corporation is infringing certain of our patents. Accordingly, we
commenced a lawsuit against Microsoft on February 15, 2007 by filing a complaint in the United
States District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. Pursuant to the complaint,
we allege that Microsoft infringes two of our U.S. patents: U.S. Patent No. 6,502,135 B1, entitled
Agile Network Protocol for Secure Communications with Assured System Availability, and U.S.
Patent No. 6,839,759 B2, entitled Method for Establishing Secure Communication Link Between
Computers of Virtual Private Network Without User Entering Any Cryptographic Information. On April
5, 2007, we filed an amended complaint specifying certain accused products at issue and alleging
infringement of a third, recently issued U.S. patent: U.S. Patent No. 7,188,180 B2, entitled
Method for Establishing Secure Communication Link Between Computers of Virtual Private Network.
We are seeking both damages, in an amount subject to proof at trial, and injunctive relief.
Microsoft answered the amended complaint and asserted counterclaims against us on May 4, 2007.
Microsoft counterclaimed for declarations that the three patents are not infringed, are invalid and
are unenforceable. Microsoft seeks an award of its attorneys fees and costs. We filed a reply to
Microsofts counterclaims on May 24, 2007. We have served our infringement contentions directed to
certain of Microsofts operating system and unified messaging and collaboration applications. On
March 31, 2008, Microsoft filed a Motion to Dismiss for lack of standing, which was denied by the
court pursuant to an order dated June 3, 2008. Also pursuant to that court decision, on June 10,
2008, SAIC joined us in our lawsuit as a plaintiff. On November 19, 2008, the court granted our
motion to amend our infringement contentions, permitting us to provide increased specificity and
citations to Microsofts proprietary documents and source code to support our infringement case
against Microsofts accused products, including, among other things, Windows XP, Vista, Server
2003, Server 2008, Live Communication Server, Office Communication Server and Office Communicator.
Microsoft was ordered to provide further information regarding its non-infringement contentions and
invalidity contentions in light of the amended infringement contentions. Microsoft was also ordered
to provide additional e-mail discovery to us. Discovery has begun, a Markman hearing on claim
construction was conducted on February 17, 2009, and we are currently awaiting the Courts order
with respect to the hearing. The trial is scheduled to begin on October 12, 2009.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in any of the Companys filings under the
Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that might incorporate future
filings, the information set forth on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)
website shall not be deemed to be a part of or incorporated by reference into any such filings. The
Company does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the PACER website, or the adequacy of the
PACER website and expressly disclaims liability for errors or omissions on such website.
Because we have determined that Microsofts alleged unauthorized use of our patents would
cause us severe economic harm and the failure to cause Microsoft to discontinue its use of such
patents could result in the termination of our business, we have dedicated a significant portion of
our economic resources, to date, to the prosecution of the Microsoft litigation and expect to
continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
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Although we believe Microsoft infringes three of our patents and we intend to vigorously
prosecute this case, at this stage of the litigation the outcome cannot be predicted with any
degree of reasonable certainty. Additionally, the Microsoft litigation will be costly and
time-consuming, and we can provide no assurance that we will obtain a judgment against Microsoft
for damages and/or injunctive relief. Should the District Court issue a judgment in favor of
Microsoft, such judgment could be adverse to us.
In the near term, we will dedicate significant time and resources to the Microsoft litigation.
The risks associated with such dedication of time and resources are set forth in the Risk Factors
section of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
One or more potential intellectual property infringement claims may also be available to us
against certain other companies who have the resources to defend against any such claims. Although
we believe these potential claims are worth pursuing, commencing a lawsuit can be expensive and
time-consuming, and there is no assurance that we will prevail on such potential claims. In
addition, bringing a lawsuit may lead to potential counterclaims which may preclude our ability to
commercialize our initial products, which are currently in development.
Currently, we are not a party to any other pending legal proceedings, and are not aware of any
proceeding threatened or contemplated against us by any governmental authority or other party.
ITEM 1A RISK FACTORS.
You should carefully consider the following material risks in addition to the other
information set forth in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q before making any investment in the
offered securities. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face.
Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be
immaterial may also adversely affect our business. If any of these risk factors occurs, you could
lose substantial value or your entire investment in the offered securities.
Risks Related To Existing and Future Litigation
We have commenced legal proceedings against Microsoft, and we expect such litigation to be
time-consuming and costly, which may adversely affect our financial condition and our ability to
operate our business.
On February 15, 2007, we initiated a lawsuit by filing a complaint against Microsoft in the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, pursuant to which
we allege that Microsoft infringes two of our patents regarding the creation of virtual private
networks (VPNs.) We seek damages and injunctive relief. On April 5, 2007, we filed an amended
complaint, pursuant to which we allege that Microsoft infringes a third patent. On February 17,
2009, a Markman hearing on claim construction was conducted and the parties are currently awaiting
the Courts order with respect to the hearing. We anticipate that these legal proceedings may
continue for several years and may require significant expenditures for legal fees and other
expenses. The time and effort required of our management to effectively pursue the Microsoft
lawsuit may adversely affect our ability to operate our business, since time spent on matters
related to the lawsuit will take away from the time spent on managing and operating our business.
Microsoft has counterclaimed for declarations that the three patents are not infringed, are invalid
and are unenforceable. If Microsofts counterclaims are successful, they may preclude our ability
to commercialize our initial products. Additionally, we anticipate that our legal fees will be
material and will negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations and may
result in our inability to continue our business.
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While we believe Microsoft infringes our patents, we can provide no assurance that we will be
successful in our lawsuit.
We believe that Microsoft infringes on three of our patents, but obtaining and collecting a
judgment against Microsoft may be difficult or impossible. Patent litigation is inherently risky
and the outcome is uncertain. Microsoft is a large, well-financed company with substantially
greater resources than us. We believe that Microsoft will devote a substantial amount of resources
in an attempt to prove that either their products do not infringe our patents or that our patents
are not valid and are unenforceable. At this time, we cannot predict the outcome of this
litigation.
We are devoting a substantial amount of our financial and management resources to the
Microsoft litigation, and if we are unsuccessful in this lawsuit, our financial condition may be
adversely affected and we may not survive.
Currently, we are devoting substantial time, effort and financial resources to our lawsuit
against Microsoft. We are a development stage company with no finished product, and, although our
business strategy is focused primarily on bringing patented products to market, our business
strategy also depends greatly on obtaining a judgment in our favor from the courts and collecting
such judgment before our financial resources are depleted. In the event we are not awarded and do
not subsequently obtain monetary and injunctive relief, we may not have enough financial resources
to continue our operations.
The burdens of being a public company may adversely affect our ability to pursue the Microsoft
litigation.
As a public company, our management must devote substantial time, attention and financial
resources to comply with U.S. securities laws. This may have a material adverse affect on
managements ability to effectively pursue the Microsoft litigation as well as our other business
initiatives. In addition, our disclosure obligations under U.S. securities laws require us to
disclose information publicly that will be available to Microsoft as well as any other future
litigation opponents. We may, from time to time, be required to disclose information that will have
a material adverse affect on our litigation strategies. This information may enable our litigation
opponents to develop effective litigation strategies that are contrary to our interests.
We may commence additional legal proceedings against third parties who we believe are infringing
on our intellectual property rights, and if we are forced to litigate to defend our intellectual
property rights, or to defend claims by third parties against us relating to intellectual
property rights, legal fees and court injunctions could adversely affect our financial condition
or end our business.
Disputes regarding the ownership of technologies and intellectual property rights are common
and we may have intellectual property infringement claims against other parties in addition to our
claims against Microsoft. If we decide to commence actions against any additional parties, doing so
may be expensive and time-consuming, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results
of operations. Moreover, there can be no assurance that we would be successful in these additional
legal proceedings and the existence and outcome of any such litigation could harm our business. In
addition, commencing lawsuits may lead to potential counterclaims which may preclude our ability to
develop and commercialize our initial products.
Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry
We are a development stage company with virtually no revenues.
We are a development stage company with a very small amount of revenue and do not expect to
generate additional revenues unless and until our patent portfolio, or part of it, is
commercialized. We anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents are insufficient to fund
our operations for longer than through the end of our second quarter of 2009. We need to raise
additional capital to fund our operations and our litigation against Microsoft and there can be no
assurance that we will be successful in doing so on acceptable terms or at all. Our inability to
generate sufficient cash flow or raise other funds to meet our expenses, obligations and sustain
our operations raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. See the
Liquidity and Capital Resources section in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional
information.
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We anticipate incurring operating losses and negative cash flows for the foreseeable future
resulting in uncertainty of future profitability and limitations on our operations.
We anticipate that we will incur operating losses and negative cash flows in the foreseeable
future, and we will accumulate increasing deficits as we increase our expenditures for:
| our lawsuit against Microsoft; |
||
| infrastructure; |
||
| sales and marketing; |
||
| research and development; |
||
| personnel; and |
||
| general business enhancements. |
We need to significantly increase our revenue if we are to attain profitability and there is
no assurance that we will be able to do so. As discussed in the notes to the condensed consolidated
financial statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, in the event that we are
unable to achieve profitability or raise sufficient funding to cover our losses in the near term,
we will be unable to meet our expenses and obligations as they come due, and this raises
substantial doubts as to our ability to continue as a going concern. The consolidated financial
statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Our business plan for commercializing our patents and technology is new and unproven, and
therefore we can provide no assurance that we will be successful in pursuing it.
We intend to develop products to provide a security platform for real-time communications;
however, this is not a defined market. We expect to depend on our intellectual property licensing
fees for the majority of our revenues. Our ability to generate licensing fees is highly dependent
on mainstream market adoption of real-time communications based on SIP or using DNS lookup
protocols as well as customer adoption of our GABRIEL Communication Technology and our secure
domain name registry. We cannot assure you that customers will adopt our products and services, or
that we will succeed in building a profitable business based on our business plan.
We may or may not be able to capitalize on potential market opportunities related to our
licensing strategy or our patent portfolio.
Our business strategy calls for us to enter into licensing relationships with the leading
companies in our target market in order to reach a larger end-user base than we could reach through
direct sales and marketing efforts. We have engaged ipCapital Group to help develop our licensing
strategy and to introduce the Company to five potential strategic licensees of the Companys
technology. In connection with this engagement, we agreed to pay ipCapital Group 10% of the
royalties of each resulting licensing arrangement, up to an aggregate maximum of $2 million per
licensee, or $10 million in the aggregate. There can be no assurance that we will be able to
capitalize on the potential market opportunity. Our inability to generate licensing revenues
associated with the potential market opportunity could result from a number of factors, including,
but not limited to:
| our capital resources may be insufficient; |
||
| our management team may not have sufficient bandwidth to successfully capitalize on all
of the opportunities identified by ipCapital Group; |
||
| we may not be successful in entering into licensing relationships with our targeted
customers on commercially acceptable terms; and |
||
| the validity of our patents underlying the licensing opportunity is currently being
challenged in our litigation against Microsoft. |
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Our business greatly depends on the growth of IM, VoIP, mobile services, streaming video, file
transfer and remote desktop and other next-generation Internet-based applications.
We cannot assure you that next-generation Internet-based applications such as instant
messaging (IM,) voice over Internet protocol (VoIP,) mobile services, streaming video, file
transfer and remote desktop will continue to gain widespread market acceptance. The Internet may
ultimately prove not to be a viable commercial marketplace for such applications for a number of
reasons, including:
| unwillingness of consumers to shift to VoIP and use other such next-generation
Internet-based applications; |
||
| refusal to purchase security products to secure information transmitted through such
applications; |
||
| perception by the licensees of unsecure communication and data transfer; |
||
| lack of concern for privacy by licensees and users; |
||
| limitations on access and ease of use; |
||
| congestion leading to delayed or extended response times; |
||
| inadequate development of Internet infrastructure to keep pace with increased levels of
use; and |
||
| increased government regulations. |
If the market for IM, VoIP, mobile services, streaming video, file transfer and remote desktop
does not grow as anticipated, our business would be adversely affected.
The success of our products that secure IM, VoIP, mobile services, streaming video, file
transfer and remote desktop, among other real-time communications applications, depends on the
growth in the number of users, which in turn depends on the Internet gaining more widespread
acceptance as the basis for these real-time communications applications. These real-time
communications applications are still in early stages of market acceptance and we cannot assure you
that they will continue to develop a broader audience. For example, potential new users may view
VoIP as unattractive relative to traditional telephone services for a number of reasons, including
the need to purchase computer headsets or the perception that the price advantage for VoIP is
insufficient to justify the perceived inconvenience.
While the use of IM and other next-generation Internet-based applications has grown rapidly in
personal and professional use, there can be no assurance that users will pay to secure their use
of such applications.
Many services such as Microsoft, Yahoo! and America Online offer IM free of charge. However,
security solutions for these services are not free, and OEMs may not want to adopt such security
solutions if users of IM do not see the value and do not want to pay for such security solutions.
If personal and professional users of IM and other next-generation Internet-based solutions do not
want to pay for the security solutions, we will have difficulty marketing and selling our products
and technologies.
We expect that we will experience long and unpredictable sales cycles, which may impact our
quarterly operating results.
We expect that our sales cycles will be long and unpredictable due to a number of
uncertainties such as:
| the need to educate potential customers about our patent rights and our product and
service capabilities; |
||
| customers willingness to invest potentially substantial resources and modify their
network infrastructures to take advantage of our products; |
||
| customers budgetary constraints; |
||
| the timing of customers budget cycles; and |
||
| delays caused by customers internal review processes. |
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We expect that we will be substantially dependent on a concentrated number of customers. If we
are unable to establish, maintain or replace our relationships with customers and develop a
diversified customer base, our revenues may fluctuate and our growth may be limited.
We expect that for the foreseeable future, a significant portion of our revenues will be
generated from a limited number of customers. There can be no guarantee that we will be able to
obtain such customers, or if we do so, to sustain our revenue levels from these customers. If we
cannot establish, maintain or replace the limited group of customers that we anticipate will
generate a substantial majority of revenues, or if they do not generate revenues at the levels or
at the times that we anticipate, our ability to maintain or grow our revenues will be adversely
affected.
If we do not successfully develop our planned products and services in a cost-effective manner to
customer demand in the rapidly evolving market for Internet and IP-based communications services,
our business may fail.
The market for communications services is characterized by rapidly changing technology,
evolving industry standards, changes in customer needs and frequent new service and product
introductions. We are currently focused on developing products to provide security solutions for
real-time communications. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to use new
technologies effectively, to continue to develop our technical expertise, to enhance our existing
services and to develop new services that meet changing customer needs on a timely and
cost-effective basis. We may not be able to adapt quickly enough to changing technology, customer
requirements and industry standards. If we fail to use new technologies effectively, to develop our
technical expertise and new services, or to enhance existing services on a timely basis, either
internally or through arrangements with third parties, our product and service offerings may fail
to meet customer needs, which would adversely affect our revenues and prospects for growth.
In addition, if we are unable, for technological, legal, financial or other reasons, to adapt
in a timely manner to changing market conditions or customer requirements, we could lose customers,
strategic alliances and market share. Sudden changes in user and customer requirements and
preferences, the frequent introduction of new products and services embodying new technologies and
the emergence of new industry standards and practices could render our existing products, services
and systems obsolete. The emerging nature of products and services in the technology and
communications industry and their rapid evolution will require that we continually improve the
performance, features and reliability of our products and services. Our success will depend, in
part, on our ability to:
| design, develop, launch and/or license our planned products, services and technologies
that address the increasingly sophisticated and varied needs of our prospective customers;
and |
||
| respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices on a
cost-effective and timely basis. |
The development of our planned products and services and other patented technology involves
significant technological and business risks and requires substantial expenditures and lead time.
We may be unable to use new technologies effectively. Updating our technology internally and
licensing new technology from third-parties may also require us to incur significant additional
expenditures.
If our products do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to fund future operations.
A number of factors may affect the market acceptance of our planned products or any other
products we develop or acquire, including, among others:
| the price of our products relative to other products that seek to secure real-time
communication; |
||
| the perception by users of the effectiveness of our products; |
||
| our ability to fund our sales and marketing efforts; and |
||
| the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts. |
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If our products do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to fund future operations,
including the development of new products and/or our sales and marketing efforts for our current
products, which inability would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition
and operating results.
Our products are highly technical and may contain undetected errors, which could cause harm to
our reputation and adversely affect our business.
Our products are highly technical and complex and, when deployed, may contain errors or
defects. In addition, we rely on third parties for software development and technology services,
and there may be errors in the development processes used by our third party counterparts that may
adversely affect our end products. Despite testing, some errors in our products may only be
discovered after a product has been installed and used by customers. Any errors or defects
discovered in our products after commercial release could result in failure to achieve market
acceptance, loss of revenue or delay in revenue recognition, loss of customers and increased
service and warranty cost, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and
financial condition. In addition, we could face claims for product liability, tort or breach of
warranty, including claims relating to changes to our products made by our channel partners. The
performance of our products could have unforeseen or unknown adverse effects on the networks over
which they are delivered as well as on third-party applications and services that utilize our
services, which could result in legal claims against us, harming our business. Furthermore, we
expect to provide implementation, consulting and other technical services in connection with the
implementation and ongoing maintenance of our products, which typically involves working with
sophisticated software, computing and communications systems. We expect that our contracts with
customers will contain provisions relating to warranty disclaimers and liability limitations, which
may not be upheld. Defending a lawsuit, regardless of its merit, is costly and may divert
managements attention and adversely affect the markets perception of us and our products. In
addition, if our business liability insurance coverage proves inadequate or future coverage is
unavailable on acceptable terms or at all, our business, operating results and financial condition
could be adversely impacted.
Malfunctions of third-party communications infrastructure, hardware and software exposes us to a
variety of risks we cannot control.
In addition, our business will also depend upon the capacity, reliability and security of the
infrastructure owned by third parties that we will use to deploy our offerings. We have no control
over the operation, quality or maintenance of a significant portion of that infrastructure or
whether or not those third parties will upgrade or improve their equipment. We depend on these
companies to maintain the operational integrity of our connections. If one or more of these
companies is unable or unwilling to supply or expand its levels of service to us in the future, our
operations could be severely interrupted. Also, to the extent the number of users of networks
utilizing our future products suddenly increases, the technology platform and secure hosting
services which will be required to accommodate a higher volume of traffic may result in slower
response times or service interruptions. System interruptions or increases in response time could
result in a loss of potential or existing users and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the
appeal of the networks to users. In addition, users depend on real-time communications; outages
caused by increased traffic could result in delays and system failures. These types of occurrences
could cause users to perceive that our solution does not function properly and could therefore
adversely affect our ability to attract and retain licensees, strategic partners and customers.
System failure or interruption or our failure to meet increasing demands on our systems could
harm our business.
The success of our license and service offerings will depend on the uninterrupted operation of
various systems, secure data centers and other computer and communication networks that we
establish. To the extent the number of users of networks utilizing our future products suddenly
increases, the technology platform and hosting services which will be required to accommodate a
higher volume of traffic may result in slower response times, service interruptions or delays or
system failures. Our systems and operations will also be vulnerable to damage or interruption from:
| power loss, transmission cable cuts and other telecommunications failures; |
||
| damage or interruption caused by fire, earthquake, and other natural disasters; |
||
| computer viruses or software defects; and |
||
| physical or electronic break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorist
attacks and other events beyond our control. |
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System interruptions or failures and increases or delays in response time could result in a
loss of potential or existing users and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the appeal of the
networks to users. These types of occurrences could cause users to perceive that our solution does
not function properly and could therefore adversely affect our ability to attract and retain
licensees, strategic partners and customers.
Any significant problem with our systems or operations could result in lost revenue, customer
dissatisfaction or lawsuits against us. A failure in the operation of our secure domain name
registration system could result in the inability of one or more registrars to register and
maintain secure domain names for a period of time. A failure in the operation or update of the
master directory that we plan to maintain could result in deletion or discontinuation of assigned
secure domain names for a period of time. The inability of the registrar systems we establish,
including our back office billing and collections infrastructure, and telecommunications systems to
meet the demands of an increasing number of secure domain name requests could result in substantial
degradation in our customer support service and our ability to process registration requests in a
timely manner.
If we experience security breaches, we could be exposed to liability and our reputation and
business could suffer.
We will retain certain confidential customer information in our secure data centers and secure
domain name registry. It will be critical to our business strategy that our facilities and
infrastructure remain secure and are perceived by the marketplace to be secure. Our secure domain
name registry operations will also depend on our ability to maintain our computer and
telecommunications equipment in effective working order and to reasonably protect our systems
against interruption, and potentially depend on protection by other registrars in the shared
registration system. The secure domain name servers that we will operate will be critical hardware
to our registry services operations. Therefore, we expect to have to expend significant time and
money to maintain or increase the security of our facilities and infrastructure.
Security technologies are constantly being tested by computer professionals, academics and
hackers. Advances in the techniques for attacking security solutions could make some or all of
our products obsolete or unmarketable. Likewise, if any of our products are found to have
significant security vulnerabilities, then we may need to dedicate engineering and other resources
to eliminate the vulnerabilities and to repair or replace products already sold or licensed to our
customers. Despite our security measures, our infrastructure may be vulnerable to physical
break-ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers or similar disruptive problems. It is possible that
we may have to expend additional financial and other resources to address such problems. Any
physical or electronic break-in or other security breach or compromise of the information stored at
our secure data centers and domain name registration systems may jeopardize the security of
information stored on our premises or in the computer systems and networks of our customers. In
such an event, we could face significant liability and customers could be reluctant to use our
services. Such an occurrence could also result in adverse publicity and therefore adversely affect
the markets perception of the security of electronic commerce and communications over IP networks
as well as of the security or reliability of our services.
We may incur significant expenses and damages because of liability claims.
An actual or perceived breach of our security solutions could result in a product liability
claim against us. A substantial product liability claim against us could harm our operating results
and financial condition. In addition, any actual or perceived breach of our security solution,
whether or not caused by the failure of one of our products, could hurt our reputation and cause
potential customers to turn to our competitors products.
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Our ability to sell our solutions will be dependent on the quality of our technical support, and
our failure to deliver high-quality technical support services could have a material adverse
effect on our sales and results of operations.
If we do not effectively assist our customers in deploying our products, succeed in helping
our customers quickly resolve post-deployment issues and provide effective ongoing support, or if
potential customers perceive that we may not be able achieve to the foregoing, our ability to sell
our products would be adversely affected, and our reputation with potential customers could be
harmed. In addition, as we expand our operations internationally, our technical support team will
face additional challenges, including those associated with delivering support, training and
documentation in languages other than English. As a result, our failure to deliver and maintain
high-quality technical support services to our customers could result in customers choosing to use
our competitors products instead of ours in the future.
There has been increased competition for security solutions in the real-time communications
industry, as more companies seek to provide products and services similar to our proposed
products and services, and because larger and better-financed competitors may affect our ability
to operate our business and achieve profitability, our business may fail.
We expect competition for our products and services to be intense. We expect to compete
directly against other companies offering similar security products and services that will compete
directly with our proposed products and services. We also expect that we will compete against
established vendors within the IP-telephony, mobility, fixed-mobile convergence and unified
communications markets. These companies may incorporate other competitive technologies into their
product offerings, whether developed internally or by third parties. For the foreseeable future,
substantially all of our competitors are likely to be larger, better-financed companies that may
develop products superior to our proposed products, which could create significant competitive
advantages for those companies. Our future success depends on our ability to compete effectively
with our competitors. As a result, we may have difficulty competing with larger, established
competitor companies. Generally, these competitors have:
| substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources; |
||
| a larger customer base; |
||
| better name recognition; and |
||
| more expansive product offerings. |
These competitors are likely to command a larger market share than us, which may enable them
to establish a stronger competitive position, in part, through greater marketing opportunities.
Further, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and
changes in user preferences and to devote greater resources to developing and operating networks of
affinity websites. These competitors may develop products or services that are comparable or
superior. If we fail to address competitive developments quickly and effectively, we may not be
able to remain a viable entity.
If we are not able to adequately protect our patented rights, our operations would be negatively
impacted.
Our ability to compete largely depends on the superiority, uniqueness and value of our
technology and intellectual property. To protect our intellectual property rights, we rely on a
combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality agreements with
our employees and third parties, and protective contractual provisions. Further, we can give no
assurances that infringement or invalidity claims (or claims for indemnification resulting from
infringement claims) will not be asserted or prosecuted against us or that any such assertions or
prosecutions will not materially adversely affect our business. Regardless of whether any such
claims are valid or can be successfully asserted, defending against such claims could cause us to
incur significant costs and could divert resources away from our other activities. In addition,
assertion of infringement claims could result in injunctions that prevent us from distributing our
products. Despite these efforts, any of the following may reduce the value of our intellectual
property:
| our applications for patents, trademarks and copyrights relating to our business may not
be granted and, if granted, may be challenged or invalidated; |
||
| issued trademarks, copyrights, or patents may not provide us with any competitive
advantages; |
||
| our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights may not be effective in
preventing misappropriation of our technology; or |
||
| our efforts may not prevent the development and design by others of products or
technologies similar to or competitive with, or superior to those we develop. |
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In addition, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights in
certain foreign countries where we may do business in the future or from which competitors may
operate. While we have numerous pending international patents, obtaining such patents will not
necessarily protect our technology or prevent our international competitors from developing similar
products or technologies. Our inability to adequately protect our patented rights would have a
negative impact on our operations and revenues.
In addition, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection
of intellectual property rights in Internet-related businesses are uncertain and still evolving.
Because of the growth of the Internet and Internet related businesses, patent applications are
continuously and simultaneously being filed in connection with Internet-related technology. There
are a significant number of U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications in our areas of
interest, and we believe that there has been, and will likely continue to be, significant
litigation in the industry regarding patent and other intellectual property rights.
If we fail to meet our obligations to SAIC, we may lose our rights to key technologies on which
our business depends.
Our business depends on our rights to and under the patents we obtained from SAIC. Our
agreements with SAIC impose various obligations on us, including payment obligations and minimum
royalties that we must pay to SAIC. If SAIC believes that we have failed to meet these obligations,
SAIC could seek to limit or reacquire the assigned patent rights, which could lead to costly and
time-consuming litigation and, potentially, a loss of our rights in these patents. During the
period of any such litigation, our ability to carry out the development and commercialization of
potential products could be significantly and negatively affected. The loss or restriction of our
rights in our patents would result in our inability to continue our business.
When we attempt to implement our secure domain name registry services business, we may be subject
to government and industry regulation and oversight which may impede our ability to achieve our
business strategy.
The U.S. government has historically controlled the authoritative domain name system (DNS)
root server since the inception of the Internet. On July 1, 1997, the President of the United
States directed the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to privatize the management of the domain name
system in a manner that increases competition and facilitates international participation in its
management.
On September 29, 2006, the U.S. Department of Commerce extended its delegation of authority by
entering into a new agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) a California non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California. ICANN is
responsible for managing the accreditation of registry providers and registrars that manage the
assignment of top level domain names associated with the authoritative DNS root directory. Although
other DNS root directories are possible to create and manage privately without accreditation from
ICANN, the possibility of conflicting name and number assignments makes it less likely that users
would widely adopt a top level domain name associated with an alternative DNS root directory
provided by a non-ICANN-accredited registry service.
On June 26, 2008, ICANN announced that it will be relaxing its prior position and will begin
to issue generic top level domain names (gTLDs) more broadly than it had previously. ICANN
expects to begin to take applications for gTLDs in April or May of 2009 with an application fee of
$100,000 or more per application. ICANN expects the first of these customized gTLDs to be issued in
the fourth quarter of 2009.
We are currently evaluating whether we will apply to become an ICANN-accredited registry
provider with respect to one or more customized gTLDs, or create our own alternative DNS root
directory to manage the assignment of non-standard secure domain names. We have not yet begun
discussions with ICANN and we cannot assure you that we will be successful in obtaining ICANN
accreditation for our registry service on terms acceptable to us or at all. Whether or not we
obtain accreditation from ICANN, we will be subject to the ongoing risks arising out of the
delegation of the U.S. governments responsibilities for the domain name system to the U.S.
Department of Commerce and ICANN and the evolving government regulatory environment with respect to
domain name registry services.
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The laws governing online secure communications are largely unsettled, and if we become subject
to various government regulations, costs associated with those regulations may materially
adversely affect our business.
The current regulatory environment for our services remains unclear. We can give no assurance
that our planned product offerings will be in compliance with local, state and/or U.S. federal laws
or other laws. Further, we can give no assurance that we will not unintentionally violate such laws
or that such laws will not be modified, or that new laws will be enacted in the future which would
cause us to be in violation of such laws.
VoIP services are not currently subject to all of the same regulations that apply to
traditional telephony. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has imposed some traditional
telephony requirements on VoIP such as disability access requirements and other obligations. It is
possible that federal and state legislatures may seek to impose increased fees and administrative
burdens on VoIP, data and video providers. Such regulations could result in substantial costs
depending on the technical changes required to accommodate the requirements, and any increased
costs could erode the pricing advantage over competing forms of communication and adversely affect
consumer adoption of VoIP products generally.
The use of the Internet and private IP networks to provide voice, video and other forms of
real-time, two-way communications services is a relatively recent development. Although the
provisioning of such services is currently permitted by U.S. law and is largely unregulated within
the United States, several foreign governments have adopted laws and/or regulations that could
restrict or prohibit the provisioning of voice communications services over the Internet or private
IP networks. More aggressive domestic or international regulation of the Internet in general, and
Internet telephony providers and services specifically, may materially and adversely affect our
business, financial condition, operating results and future prospects, particularly if increased
numbers of governments impose regulations restricting the use and sale of IP telephony services.
In addition to regulations addressing Internet telephony and broadband services, other
regulatory issues relating to the Internet in general could affect our ability to provide our
planned security solutions. Congress has adopted legislation that regulates certain aspects of the
Internet, including online content, user privacy, taxation, liability for third-party activities
and jurisdiction. In addition, a number of initiatives pending in Congress and state legislatures
would prohibit or restrict advertising or sale of certain products and services on the Internet,
which may have the effect of raising the cost of doing business on the Internet generally.
Telephone carriers have petitioned governmental agencies to enforce regulatory tariffs, which, if
granted, would increase the cost of online communication, and such increase in cost may impede
the growth of online communication and adversely affect our business.
The growing popularity and use of the Internet has burdened the existing telecommunications
infrastructures, and many high traffic areas have begun to experience interruptions in service. As
a result, certain local telephone carriers have petitioned governmental agencies to enforce
regulatory tariffs on IP telephony traffic that crosses over the traditional telephone networks. If
any of these petitions or the relief that they seek is granted, the costs of communicating online
could increase substantially, potentially adversely affecting the growth in the use of online
secure communications. Any of these developments could have an adverse effect on our business.
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The departure of Kendall Larsen, our Chief Executive Officer and President, and/or other key
personnel could compromise our ability to execute our strategic plan and may result in additional
severance costs to us.
Our success largely depends on the skills, experience and efforts of our key personnel,
including Kendall Larsen, our Chief Executive Officer and President. We have no employment
agreements with any of our key executives that prevent them from leaving us at any time. In
addition, we do not maintain key person life insurance for any of our officers or key employees.
The loss of Mr. Larsen, or our failure to retain other key personnel, would jeopardize our ability
to execute our strategic plan and materially harm our business.
We will need to recruit and retain additional qualified personnel to successfully grow our
business.
Our future success will depend in part on our ability to attract and retain qualified
operations, marketing and sales personnel as well as engineers. Inability to attract and retain
such personnel could adversely affect our business. Competition for engineering, sales, marketing
and executive personnel is intense, particularly in the technology and Internet sectors and in the
regions where our facilities are located. We can provide no assurance that we will attract or
retain such personnel.
Growth of internal operations and business may strain our financial resources.
We intend to significantly expand the scope of our operating and financial systems in order to
build our business. Our growth rate may place a significant strain on our financial resources for a
number of reasons, including, but not limited to, the following:
| the need for continued development of the financial and information management systems; |
| the need to manage relationships with future licensees, resellers, distributors and
strategic partners; |
| the need to hire and retain skilled management, technical and other personnel necessary
to support and manage our business; and |
| the need to train and manage our employee base. |
The addition of new infrastructure services, networks, vertical categories and affinity
websites and the attention they demand, on top of the attention demanded by our pending litigation
with Microsoft, may also strain our management resources. We cannot give you any assurance that we
will adequately address these risks and, if we do not, our ability to successfully expand our
business could be adversely affected.
If we expand into international markets, our inexperience outside the United States would
increase the risk that our international expansion efforts will not be successful, which would in
turn limit our prospects for growth.
We may explore expanding our business to outside the United States. Expansion into
international markets requires significant management attention and financial resources. In
addition, we may face the following risks associated with any expansion outside the United States:
| challenges caused by distance, language and cultural differences; |
||
| legal, legislative and regulatory restrictions; |
||
| currency exchange rate fluctuations; |
||
| economic instability; |
||
| longer payment cycles in some countries; |
||
| credit risk and higher levels of payment fraud; |
||
| potentially adverse tax consequences; and |
||
| other higher costs associated with doing business internationally. |
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These risks could harm our international expansion efforts, which would in turn harm our
business prospects.
We will continue to incur significant costs as a result of being a public company.
As a public company, we will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other
expenses that VirnetX Inc. did not incur as a private company. We expect the laws, rules and
regulations governing public companies to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to
make some activities more time-consuming and costly, and these costs could be material to us.
Failing to maintain the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could
cause the cost related to remediation to increase and could cause our stock price to decline.
In the future, our management may identify deficiencies regarding the design and effectiveness
of our system of internal control over financial reporting that we engage in pursuant to Section
404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Section 404) as part of our periodic reporting obligations. Such
deficiencies could include those arising from turnover of qualified personnel or arising as a
result of acquisitions, which we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the continuing
reporting deadlines imposed by Section 404 and the costs of which may harm our results of
operations. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, as such
standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to ensure
that our management can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal controls. We
also may not be able to retain an independent registered public accounting firm with sufficient
resources to attest to and report on our internal controls in a timely manner. Moreover, our
registered public accounting firm may not agree with our managements future assessments and may
deem our controls ineffective if we are unable to remediate on a timely basis. If in the future we
are unable to assert that we maintain effective internal controls, our investors could lose
confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports which could cause our stock
price to decline.
Our ability to sell our solutions will be dependent on the quality of our technical support, and
our failure to deliver high-quality technical support services could have a material adverse
effect on our sales and results of operations.
If we do not effectively assist our customers in deploying our products, succeed in helping
our customers quickly resolve post-deployment issues and provide effective ongoing support, or if
potential customers perceive that we may not be able achieve the foregoing, our ability to sell our
products would be adversely affected, and our reputation with potential customers could be harmed.
In addition, as we expand our operations internationally, our technical support team will face
additional challenges, including those associated with delivering support, training and
documentation in languages other than English. As a result, our failure to deliver and maintain
high-quality technical support services to our customers could result in customers choosing to use
our competitors products instead of ours in the future.
Risks Related to Our Stock
Our business is subject to risks associated with the ongoing financial crisis and weakening
global economy.
The recent severe tightening of the credit markets, turmoil in the financial markets, and
weakening global economy impacts our ability to raise needed capital and enter into customer
agreements. These slowdowns are expected to worsen if these economic conditions are prolonged or
deteriorate further. Further, these conditions and uncertainty about future economic conditions
make it challenging for us to forecast our operating results, make business decisions, and identify
the risks that may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are
not able to timely and appropriately adapt to changes resulting from the difficult macroeconomic
environment, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be significantly
negatively affected.
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Trading in our common stock is limited and the price of our common stock may be subject to
substantial volatility, particularly in light of the instability in the financial and capital
markets, and we may be unable to maintain the standards for listing our common stock on the NYSE
Amex.
Our common stock is listed on NYSE Amex but its daily trading volume has been limited,
sporadic and volatile, particularly in light of the ongoing financial crisis; economic uncertainty
tends to exacerbate volatility in the financial markets. Over the past year, the market price of
our common stock has experienced significant fluctuations. Between March 31, 2008 and March 31,
2009, the reported last sale price for our common stock has ranged from $6.70 to $1.06 per share.
With such volatility, there can be no assurance that we will remain qualified to be listed on NYSE
Amex. On April 30, 2009, we received notice from the staff of NYSE Amex, indicating that, based on
the staffs review of publicly available information, we do not meet certain of NYSE Amexs
continued listing standards. In order to maintain our listing on NYSE Amex, we must submit a plan
of compliance by June 1, 2009 that addresses how we intend to regain compliance with the continued
listing requirements. We will fully comply with the requests of NYSE Amex and submit such a plan.
If, however, NYSE Amex delists our securities from trading on NYSE Amex and we are unable to
list our securities on another securities exchange, our securities could be listed on the OTC
Bulletin Board or the Pink Sheets, which may adversely affect the liquidity and price of our common
stock. In addition, we expect the price of our common stock to continue to be volatile as a result
of a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:
| developments in our pending litigation against Microsoft; |
||
| quarterly variations in our operating results; |
||
| large purchases or sales of common stock; |
||
| actual or anticipated announcements of new products or services by us or competitors; |
||
| general conditions in the markets in which we compete; and |
||
| economic and financial conditions. |
Because ownership of our common shares is concentrated, you and other investors will have minimal
influence on stockholder decisions.
As of March 31, 2009, our officers and directors beneficially owned an aggregate of 10,604,413
shares, or 27.35% of our outstanding common stock. In addition, a group of stockholders that, as of
December 31, 2007, held 4,766,666 shares, or 13.7% of our outstanding common stock, have entered
into a voting agreement with us that requires them to vote all of their shares of our voting stock
in favor of the director nominees approved by our Board of Directors at each director election
going forward, and in a manner that is proportional to the votes cast by all other voting shares as
to any other matters submitted to the stockholders for a vote. As a result, our existing officers
and directors could significantly influence stockholder actions of which you disapprove or that are
contrary to your interests. This ability to exercise significant influence could prevent or
significantly delay another company from acquiring or merging with us.
Our protective provisions could make it difficult for a third party to successfully acquire us
even if you would like to sell your shares to them.
We have a number of protective provisions that could delay, discourage or prevent a third
party from acquiring control of us without the approval of our Board of Directors. Our protective
provisions include:
| A staggered Board of Directors: This means that only one or two directors (since we have
a five-person Board of Directors) will be up for election at any given annual meeting. This
has the effect of delaying the ability of stockholders to effect a change in control of us
since it would take two annual meetings to effectively replace at least three directors
which represents a majority of the Board of Directors. |
||
| Blank check preferred stock: Our Board of Directors has the authority to establish the
rights, preferences and privileges of our 10,000,000 authorized, but unissued, shares of
preferred stock. Therefore, this stock may be issued at the discretion of our
Board of Directors with preferences over your shares of our common stock in a manner that is
materially dilutive to existing stockholders. In addition, blank check preferred stock can be
used to create a poison pill which is designed to deter a hostile bidder from buying a
controlling interest in our stock without the approval of our Board of Directors. We have not
adopted such a poison pill; but our Board of Directors has the ability to do so in the
future, very rapidly and without stockholder approval. |
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| Advance notice requirements for director nominations and for new business to be brought
up at stockholder meetings: Stockholders wishing to submit director nominations or raise
matters to a vote of the stockholders must provide notice to us within very specific date
windows and in very specific form in order to have the matter voted on at a stockholder
meeting. This has the effect of giving our Board of Directors and management more time to
react to stockholder proposals generally and could also have the effect of disregarding a
stockholder proposal or deferring it to a subsequent meeting to the extent such proposal is
not raised properly. |
||
| No stockholder actions by written consent: No stockholder or group of stockholders may
take actions rapidly and without prior notice to our Board of Directors and management or to
the minority stockholders. Along with the advance notice requirements described above, this
provision also gives our Board of Directors and management more time to react to proposed
stockholder actions. |
||
| Super majority requirement for stockholder amendments to the By-laws: Stockholder
proposals to alter or amend our By-laws or to adopt new By-laws can only be approved by the
affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares. |
||
| Elimination of the ability of stockholders to call a special meeting of the stockholders:
Only the Board of Directors or management can call special meetings of the stockholders.
This could mean that stockholders, even those who represent a significant block of our
shares, may need to wait for the annual meeting before nominating directors or raising other
business proposals to be voted on by the stockholders. |
Securities analysts may not cover our common stock and this may have a negative impact on our
common stocks market price.
The trading market for our common stock may depend on the research and reports that securities
analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. There is
no guarantee that securities analysts will cover our common stock. If securities analysts do not
cover our common stock, the lack of research coverage may adversely affect our common stocks
market price. If we are covered by securities analysts, and our stock is downgraded, our stock
price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to publish
regularly reports on us, we could lose or fail to gain visibility in the financial markets, which
could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
We may seek to raise additional funds, finance acquisitions or develop strategic relationships by
issuing capital stock that would dilute your ownership.
We have financed our operations, and we expect to continue to finance our operations,
acquisitions and develop strategic relationships, by issuing equity or convertible debt securities,
which could significantly reduce the percentage ownership of our existing stockholders.
Furthermore, any newly issued securities could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to
those of our existing stock. Moreover, any issuances by us of equity securities may be at or below
the prevailing market price of our stock and in any event may have a dilutive impact on your
ownership interest, which could cause the market price of stock to decline. We may also raise
additional funds through the incurrence of debt or the issuance or sale of other securities or
instruments senior to our common shares. The holders of any debt securities or instruments we may
issue would have rights superior to the rights of our common stockholders.
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We have no current intention of declaring or paying any cash dividends on our common stock.
We do not plan to declare or pay any cash dividends on our common stock. Our current policy is
to use all funds and any earnings in the operation and expansion of our business.
ITEM 2 UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS.
We had no issuance of unregistered securities during the three months ended March 31, 2009.
ITEM 3 DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES.
None.
ITEM 4 SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.
None.
ITEM 5 OTHER INFORMATION.
None.
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ITEM 6 EXHIBITS.
Exhibit | ||||
Number | Description | |||
3.1 | Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company. |
|||
3.2 | By-laws of the Company. |
|||
4.1 | Form of Common Stock Purchase Warrant Issued to Gilford Securities Incorporated. (1) |
|||
4.2 | Form of Warrant Agency Agreement by and between the Company and Corporate Stock Transfer, Inc. as Warrant Agent.(2) |
|||
4.3 | Form of Underwriters Warrant. (1) |
|||
31.1 | Certification of the President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.* |
|||
31.2 | Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.* |
|||
32.1 | Certification of the President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.** |
|||
32.2 | Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906
of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.** |
| Incorporated by reference to the Companys Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on July 12, 2007 (File No. 000-26895). |
|
(1) | Incorporated by reference to the Companys Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on March 18, 2008 (File No. 001-3852). |
|
(2) | Incorporated herein by reference to the Companys Registration Statement on Form S-1/A filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2009 (File No. 333-153643). |
|
* | Filed herewith. |
|
** | Furnished herewith. |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements 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.
VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION |
||||
By: | /s/ Kendall Larsen | |||
Kendall Larsen | ||||
Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) | ||||
By: | /s/ William E. Sliney | |||
William E. Sliney | ||||
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Accounting and Financial Officer) |
Date: May 11, 2009
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Table of Contents
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit | ||||
Number | Description | |||
3.1 | Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company. |
|||
3.2 | By-laws of the Company. |
|||
4.1 | Form of Common Stock Purchase Warrant Issued to Gilford Securities Incorporated. (1) |
|||
4.2 | Form of Warrant Agency Agreement by and between the Company and Corporate Stock Transfer, Inc. as Warrant Agent.(2) |
|||
4.3 | Form of Underwriters Warrant. (1) |
|||
31.1 | Certification of the President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.* |
|||
31.2 | Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.* |
|||
32.1 | Certification of the President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.** |
|||
32.2 | Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906
of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.** |
| Incorporated by reference to the Companys Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on July 12, 2007 (File No. 000-26895). |
|
(1) | Incorporated by reference to the Companys Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on March 18, 2008 (File No. 001-3852). |
|
(2) | Incorporated herein by reference to the Companys Registration Statement on Form S-1/A filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2009 (File No. 333-153643). |
|
* | Filed herewith. |
|
** | Furnished herewith. |
33