VirnetX Holding Corp - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

or

For the transition period from                    to                   

Commission File Number: 001-33852

VirnetX Holding Corporation
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 775-548-1785
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act:
None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes  ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes  ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant as of June 30, 2020, was $412,305,224 based upon the closing price of the common shares of the Registrant on June 30, 2020. This calculation does not reflect a determination that certain persons are affiliates of the Registrant for any other purpose.

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

71,058,570 shares of Registrant’s Common Stock were outstanding as of March 11, 2021.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

The information required by Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, to the extent not set forth herein, is incorporated by reference from the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after December 31, 2020 relating to the Registrant’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

INDEX

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

We have included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (including in the section entitled Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations), and from time to time we may make statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations, estimates, assumptions, and beliefs concerning future events and conditions and may discuss, among other things, anticipated future performance (including sales and earnings), expected growth, future business plans and costs and the impact of potential and ongoing litigation. Any statement that is not historical in nature is a forward-looking statement and may be identified by the use of words and phrases such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result in,” and similar expressions. These statements include our beliefs and statements regarding general industry and market conditions and growth rates, as well as general domestic and international economic conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements and from our historical results and experience. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to those described in Item 1A - Risk Factors of this Quarterly Report and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report and those described from time to time in our future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned that it is not possible to predict or identify all the risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect future results and that the risks described herein should not be considered a complete list. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Among others, the forward-looking statements appearing in this Annual Report that may not occur include statements that:

●          In the VirnetX Inc. v. Apple, Inc. (Case Nos. 6:11-cv-00563-RWS, 6:12-cv-00855-RWS) (“Apple II”) litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) in November 2019, affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part the judgment issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (the “district court”) in the case awarding VirnetX damages of $595.9 million. On October 30, 2020, after a trial in the district court, a jury returned a verdict in favor of VirnetX, awarding VirnetX with over $502 million in damages. On January 15, 2021, the district court denied Apple’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and affirmed the jury findings. This may imply that VirnetX may soon receive over $500 million in cash, however, on February 4, 2021, Apple has filed a notice of appeal to the Federal Circuit with regards to this judgement from the district court. In addition, the patents in this case are being challenged in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. If those challenges are successful, the award in the case may be reduced, eliminated and/or delayed for a lengthy period. The continuation of this litigation is distracting to our management,  expensive, and these distractions and expenses may continue.

●          We have undertaken activities to commercialize our products and patent portfolio in and outside the United States. These statements may imply that the worldwide market for our commercialized products is large and will result in significant future revenues for us. However, commercialization of products such as ours are subject to significant obstacles and risks, including but not limited to a perception by some potential partners and customers that they should await the outcome of the Apple II litigation before entering or considering to enter any agreement with us, and that or other factors may lead us to be unsuccessful in obtaining further licensing agreements or making arrangements or entering contracts which create significant future revenues for us.

 

EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, WE UNDERTAKE NO OBLIGATION TO UPDATE OR REVISE ANY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT AS A RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE EVENTS OR OTHERWISE.

 

 

PART I

 

The Company

We are an Internet security software and technology company with patented technology for various types of secure network communications, including 5G and 4G LTE network security. Our patented Secure Domain Name Registry and GABRIEL Connection Technology™, are the foundation for our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ that protects communications using Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Our technology generates secure connections on a “zero-click” or “single-click” basis, significantly simplifying the deployment of secure real-time communication solutions by eliminating the need for end-users to enter any encryption information. Our portfolio of intellectual property is the foundation of our business model. We currently own approximately 194 total patents and pending applications, including 70 U.S. patents/patent applications and 124 foreign patents/validations/pending applications. Our patent portfolio is primarily focused on securing real-time communications over the Internet, and related services, and is used in all our technology and products, some of which were acquired by our principal operating subsidiary; VirnetX, Inc., from Leidos, Inc., or Leidos, (f/k/a Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC) in 2006.

Our product portfolio includes sophisticated technologies, products and services that are available for sale worldwide. Our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ includes a set of software libraries with application interfaces available for securing third-party applications seamlessly across multiple operating systems. It enables individuals and organizations to maintain complete ownership and control over their personal and confidential data, secured within their own private network, while enabling authorized secure encrypted access from anywhere at any time.

Our GABRIEL Gateway product extends our Secure Communication Platform™ by allowing existing networked devices and services to seamlessly join the “GABRIEL SECURED” network without requiring any modifications. All these devices or services, including on-premise or cloud-based services, can now be assigned a VirnetX Secure Domain Name and use fully authenticated, secure communication channels for its communications.

Our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is a set of communication applications and tools that use our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™. It enables seamless and secure cross-platform communications between devices that are enrolled in our “GABRIEL SECURED” network and have our software installed. Our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is available for download and free trial, for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms, at https://virnetx.com.

We continue to enhance our products and add new functionality. We will provide updates to new and existing customers as they are released to the public. Many small and medium businesses have installed our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ and GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ products in their corporate networks. We intend to continue to expand our customer base with targeted promotions and direct sales initiatives.

We have an ongoing GABRIEL Licensing Program under which we offer licenses to a portion of our patent portfolio, technology, and software, including our secure domain name registry service, to domain infrastructure providers, communication service providers as well as to system integrators. Our GABRIEL Connection Technology™ License is offered to OEM customers who want to adopt the GABRIEL Connection Technology™ as their solution for establishing secure connections using secure domain names within their products. We have developed GABRIEL Connection Technology™ Software Development Kit (SDK) to assist with rapid integration of these techniques into existing software implementations. Customers who want to develop their own implementation of the VirnetX patented techniques for supporting secure domain names, or other techniques that are covered by our patent portfolio for establishing secure communication links, can purchase a patent license. The number of patents licensed, and therefore the cost of the patent license to the customer, will depend upon which of the patents are used in a particular product or service. These licenses will typically include an initial license fee, as well as an ongoing royalty.

Our employees include the core development team behind our patent portfolio, technology, and software. Some members of this team have worked together for over twenty years and were on same team that invented and developed this technology while working at Leidos, Inc. (“Leidos”). The team has continued its research and development work and expanded the set of patents we acquired in 2006 from Leidos, into a larger patent portfolio. This portfolio now serves as the foundation of our products, services, and our licensing business. It is expected to generate most of our future revenue in license fees and royalties. We intend to continue our efforts to develop new products and technologies and further strengthen and expand our patent portfolio. We intend to continue using an outsourced and leveraged model to maintain efficiency and manage costs as we grow our licensing business by, for example, offering incentives to early licensing targets or asserting our rights for use of our patents.

Industry Overview & Trends

We believe that the rapid growth in remote work has accelerated digital business transformation initiatives that would have taken years, into a matter of months.  The demand to work remotely, explosive growth of video conferencing tools and rapid growth in the cloud has created an opportunity to secure communications regardless of a user’s location, network, or BYOD (bring your own device).

The shift to remote work and expansion of the enterprise network perimeter has driven the growth of ZTNA solutions.  The Zero Trust concept treats all networks like the Internet, where all users and devices are untrusted by default.  Their location within the network is not a factor for deciding trust.  Each user and device on the network require authentication and authorization, based on policy, prior to accessing any applications or resources on the network. ZTNA facilitates security around remote work, because Zero Trust policies enable granular access control, end-to-end encryption of network communications and remove application visibility from the public Internet reducing the attack surface. Based on our research and estimates, we believe that the Zero-Trust Security Market size is projected to grow from USD 15.6 billion in 2019 to USD 38.6 billion by 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.9% from 2019 to 2024.  We believe Zero Trust represents a growing market and an ideal fit for our technology and products.

With large portions of the global population now living under some form of lockdown, the global coronavirus pandemic has forced many organizations to shift their business processes – and their employees are having to embrace a work-from-home culture on a scale never attempted. Remote work has accelerated the adoption of video conferencing and meeting applications across all industries making it an essential tool to connect with remote customers, workforces, and employees to prevent direct contact. Based on our estimates, we believe that the worldwide Video Conferencing Market size is projected to grow from USD 14 billion in 2019 to USD 35 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 16.5% from 2020 to 2026. This rapid adoption, learning curve and demand to continue working remotely has created significant security concerns and breaches for enterprises.  Our market research has focused on security conscious verticals such as healthcare, banking, legal and government where security breaches can significantly impact outcomes.  In many cases, these enterprises adopted industry standard video conferencing tools and are now looking at more secure alternative solutions.  Enterprises want video conferencing solutions that protect their information and allow them greater security control and visibility, while continuing to be reliable, easy to use and cost effective. Enterprises in these verticals are also looking for video conferencing solutions that integrate into their existing workflows and better align with specific use cases instead of forcing them to adapt to more one size fits all solutions on the market. We believe our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ represents a starting point to offer secure video conferencing tools built on a zero-trust architecture.

Cloud computing growth has rapidly expanded as enterprises continue to move applications and services to the cloud. The cloud offers scalability, operations and development efficiency and remote access benefits for their workforce. Based on our estimates, we believe that the global cloud computing market size is expected to grow from approximately USD 293 billion in 2020 to over USD 810 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 18.5% during the forecast period. The cloud technology adoption is expected to increase quite significantly in industries where the Work-From-Home (WFH) initiative is helping to sustain enterprise business functions. However, shifting critical data to the cloud has resulted in security concerns and the need for enterprises to control access and gain visibility into how information is being used, who is accessing it and where it is going. We believe our scalable technology allows enterprises to secure applications and services regardless of whether hosting is on-premise or in the cloud.

As billions of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices come online in support of enterprise operations, products, and industrial controls they will need to be secured and integrated into the enterprise. Facilitated by advancements in 4G/Advanced LTE and high-speed 5G networks, IoT devices will be able to operate from any network, transmit higher volumes of data including video streaming and sensor data collection and require real-time decisions based on that data. Without next generation security, these IoT devices represent a large attack surface that manages and control critical enterprise infrastructure. These IoT devices can operate from anywhere, will need to be secured with the same level of network security and ZTNA solutions enterprises are already deploying for their remote workforce. We believe that the market opportunity for our software and technology solutions is large and expanding as secure domain names are now an integral part of securing the next generation 5G and 4G/LTE Advanced wireless networks and IoT communications in areas including Smart City, Connected Car and Connected Home. Based on our estimates, we believe that the size of global Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market is projected to grow from USD 83.6 billion in 2020 to approximately USD 254 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 20.35% during this forecasted period with a growing investment in securing the infrastructure around these devices.

Our Approach & Strategy

Our portfolio of intellectual property is the foundation of our business model. We currently own approximately 194 total patents and pending applications, including 70 U.S. patents/patent applications and 124 foreign patents/validations/pending applications.  This portfolio now serves as the foundation of our products, services, and our licensing business. It is expected to generate the majority of our future revenue in license fees and royalties.

Our strategy is to become the market leader in securing real-time communications over the Internet and to establish our GABRIEL Connection Technology™ as the industry standard security platform. Key elements of our strategy are to:

GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ delivers ZTNA allowing enterprises to secure their information, control access and gain visibility into how information is being used, who is accessing it and where it is going.  Our patented technology allows enterprises to license our technology for integration into their products and services, easily deploy our technology through our GABRIEL Gateway product for endpoint security or securing their communications with our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ application.

We believe GABRIEL Gateway will support enterprises in securing their networks as their applications, services, virtualized resources, and data moves to the cloud. GABRIEL Gateway secures applications, services and infrastructure using ZTNA.  Enterprises can quickly deploy GABRIEL Gateway to protect legacy applications, secure new cloud-based services and remove application visibility from the public Internet.  Enterprises can move towards more granular network access control to protect their network at the edge and away from legacy VPN technologies.  GABRIEL Gateway enables remote employees to securely communication with on-premise and cloud-based applications, regardless of their location. GABRIEL Gateway is included with the GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ and offered as a separate licensing program for enterprises that need a Gateway only solution.  Enterprises can also use GABRIEL Gateway to secure open-source applications powering communications, data and analytics, infrastructure, and business services with a focus on making those applications easier to secure, access and manage.

GABRIEL Secure Domains provide two fundamental capabilities for enterprises to manage device security and access control.

Enterprise customers understand the complexity of device certificate management at scale, the operational costs and security ramifications, if not done properly. GABRIEL Secure Domains enable certificate-based identities and when used within the GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™, provides a cloud-based service that automates the process of issuing, renewing, and revoking device certificates across the enterprise at scale.   With GABRIEL Secure Domains, enterprises have a solution for managing device security and access control driven by the rapid growth of IoT and remote work.

Each GABRIEL Secure Domain creates a network microsegment or secure enclave that includes a set of resources (e.g., applications, services, or data) and a set of users and devices an enterprise can assign to access those resources. Used within the GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™, enterprises can scale and adapt their network architecture, on-demand, based on business and workforce needs. Enterprises see the power of GABRIEL Secure Domains as a way to flexibility segment their networks, enforce access policies, audit compliance, isolate and limit lateral network movement, secure and limit access for remote workers and gain access control and visibility into their network.

We believe GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ provides the foundation for real-time, secure communications and collaboration applications for the enterprise remote workforce.  We bundle multiple applications together within the GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™, including Secure Chat, Secure Share, Secure Video/Voice, Secure Mail, Secure Backup/Sync and GABRIEL Gateway. We are exploring unbundling the applications within GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ and offering à la carte product options.  This approach allows us to offer more flexible licensing options to solve specific customer use-cases, align with partner product offerings and create upsell opportunities.

Competitive Strengths

We believe the following competitive strengths will enable our success in the marketplace:

License and Service Offerings

We offer a diversified portfolio of license and service offerings focused on securing real-time communications over the Internet, including:

Customers

Our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is available for download and free trial, for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms, at http://www.gabrielsecure.com/. We continue to enhance our products and add new functionality to our products. We will provide updates to new and existing customers as they are released publicly. Over 80 small and medium businesses have installed our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ and GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ products in their corporate networks. We continue to rapidly expand our customer base with targeted promotions and direct sales initiatives.

We have signed Patent License Agreements with Aastra USA, Inc. Avaya, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Mitel Networks Corporation, NEC Corporation and NEC Corporation of America, Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, and Siemens Enterprise Communications Inc. to license certain of our patents, for a one-time payment and an ongoing royalty for all future sales through the expiration of the licensed patents with respect to certain current and future IP-encrypted products.

We are seeking further licensing of our technology, including our GABRIEL Connection Technology™ to developers and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, of chips, servers, smart phones, tablets, e-Readers, laptops, net books, and other devices, within the IP-telephony, mobility, fixed-mobile convergence, and unified communications markets including 4G/LTE. We have published our royalty rates and guidelines on our website. All forward moving licenses have adhered to these guidelines and have met or exceeded these rates and we will use these rates and guidelines in all future license negotiations.

Marketing and Sales

We employ a leveraged, partner-oriented, marketing strategy for our technology licenses and software product offerings. We successfully signed a number of Resellers & Managed Service Provider in various market segments, including, healthcare, finance, legal, government, etc., to assist us in selling our software products to their customers. A list of our partners can be found on our website at https://virnetx.com/partners. We plan to continue working on a number of sales and marketing promotions, in the U.S. and Japan, to recruit more resellers and partners along with direct sales programs as we seek to extend out our customer base internationally.

We plan to directly market our Gabriel Secure Communication Platform™ and Gabriel Collaboration Suite™ products, domain name registry services to our service provider and system integrator customers. We market our Gabriel line of products directly to small and medium businesses using online marketing programs and tools.

We expect to leverage our relationship with Leidos, to extend our offering to departments and agencies within the federal government. Leidos 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. We intend to leverage our sales team for managing current accounts and pursuing sales opportunities with new customers.

In January 2021, we added a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to our Japanese team to further our technology licensing efforts in Japan. We have signed a non-exclusive Distribution and Service Agreement with IP Dream, a Japanese based strategic technology developer and service provider, to sell VirnetX’s Gabriel Collaboration Suite as well as VirnetX’s Secure Domain Name technology to its clients in Japan and greater Asia. Jointly with IP Dream, we are currently pursuing a number of OEM opportunities with some of the largest services providers in Japan. Along with our efforts with IP dream, we continue to explore alternative strategies to pursue opportunities to work with other third parties in Japan, and elsewhere, using an approach that will seek to capitalize on these opportunities in part by placing more emphasis on the use of our own employees.

Our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is available for download and free trial, for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms, at https://virnetx.com. We continue to enhance our products and add new functionality to our products. We will provide updates to new and existing customers as they are released publicly. We continue to rapidly expand our customer base with targeted promotions and direct sales initiatives.

We intend to continue to license our patent portfolio, technology, and software, including our secure domain name registry service, to domain infrastructure providers, communication service providers as well as to system integrators. We intend to seek further license of our technology, including our GABRIEL Connection Technology™ to enterprise customers, developers and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, of chips, servers, smart phones, tablets, e-Readers, laptops, net books, and other devices, within the IP-telephony, mobility, fixed-mobile convergence, and unified communications markets including 5G and 4G/LTE. We have published our royalty rates and guidelines on our website at https://virnetx.com/licensing. All forward moving licenses have adhered to these guidelines and have met or exceeded these rates and we will use these rates and guidelines in all future license negotiations.

Intellectual Property and Patent Rights

Our intellectual property is primarily comprised of trade secrets, patented know-how, issued and pending patents, copyrights and technological innovation.

We currently own approximately 194 total patents and pending applications, including 70 U.S. patents/patent applications and 124 foreign patents/validations/pending applications. Our portfolio includes a number of patents that describe unique systems and methods for securing real-time communications over the Internet, as well as related services such as the establishment and maintenance of a secure domain name registry. Our software and technology solutions also may have additional applications relating to operating systems and network security. A complete list of our U.S. patents is available on our website located at www.virnetx.com. Each patent is publicly accessible on the Internet website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at www.uspto.gov. The term of each of our issued U.S. and foreign patents will expire during the period from 2020 to 2024.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in any of our 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 United States Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO 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 or adequacy of the USPTO Website, and expressly disclaims liability for errors or omissions on such website.

Assignment of Patents

Some of our issued patents and pending patent applications were acquired by our principal operating subsidiary, VirnetX, Inc., from Leidos, 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 recorded the assignment from Leidos, with the U.S. Patent Office on December 21, 2006.

Key terms of these agreements are as follows:

Government Regulation

The laws governing online secure communications remain largely unsettled, even in areas where there has been legislative action. It may take years to determine whether and how existing laws governing intellectual property, privacy, data protection and libel apply to online communications and media. Such legislation may interfere with the growth in use of online secure communications and decrease the acceptance of online secure communications as a viable solution, which could adversely affect our business.

Due to the Internet’s popularity and increasing use, new laws regulating secure communications may be adopted. These laws and regulations may cover, among other things, issues relating to privacy, data protection, pricing, taxation, telecommunications over the Internet, content, copyrights, distribution and quality of products and services. We intend to comply with all new laws and regulations as they are adopted.

The U.S. government has controlled the authoritative domain name system, or 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, or 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 it is possible to create and manage other DNS root directories 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.

Employees

On December 31, 2020, the Company had 21 full and part time employees, most of whom work remotely from our corporate offices.  The Company has had an at-home work force since its inception.  The emphasis of our employees is on our technology research and product development with 11 employees focused on this effort. The team has been working on enhancing our products and adding new functionality along with successfully filing several new patent applications in  2021.  We also continue building our sales and marketing teams to expand our product-lines and customer base. In 2021 we added a Chief Operating Officer for our subsidiary in Japan who will be focused on growing our market and products in that region.

In addition to our regular employees, we also engage with important consultants on a regular basis.  These consultants can be involved in our product development, customer relations, legal, and/or regulatory compliance and reporting.  The Company has experienced low employee turnover rates over the years with both employees and some consultants participating in our incentive stock option/RSU plans.

Available Information

We file or furnish various reports, such as registration statements, periodic and current reports, proxy statements and other materials with the SEC. Our Internet website address is www.virnetx.com. You may obtain, free of charge on our Internet website, copies of our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The information we post is intended for reference purposes only; none of the information posted on our website is part of this report or incorporated by reference herein.

The SEC also maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and other information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including us, that file electronically with the SEC. The Internet address of the SEC’s Internet site is http://www.sec.gov.

Item 1A.          Risk Factors

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

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Financial Reporting

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

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

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

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

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

Factors that may affect our ability to execute our current business strategy include, but are not limited to, the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is impossible to determine the extent of the impact of any new laws, regulations or initiatives that may be proposed, or whether any of the proposals will become enacted as laws. Compliance with any new or existing laws or regulations could be difficult and expensive, affect the manner in which we conduct our business and negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations. We may need to raise additional capital to support our business growth, and this capital will be dilutive, may cause our stock price to drop or may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

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

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

We expect to retain certain confidential and proprietary customer information in our secure data centers and secure domain name registry, as well as personal data and other confidential and proprietary information relating to our business. It will be critical to our business strategy that our facilities and infrastructure remain secure and are perceived by the marketplace to be secure. Our secure domain name registry operations will also depend on our ability to maintain our computer and telecommunications equipment in effective working order and to reasonably protect our systems against interruption, and potentially depend on protection by other registrars in the shared registration system. The secure domain name servers that we will operate will be critical hardware to our registry services operations. Therefore, we expect to have to expend significant time and money to maintain or increase the security of our products, facilities, and infrastructure. Security technologies are constantly being tested by computer professionals, academics and “hackers.” Advances in computer capabilities and the techniques for attacking security solutions, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments could result in compromises or breaches of our security measures and could make some or all our products obsolete or unmarketable. Likewise, if any of our products are found to have significant security vulnerabilities, then we may need to dedicate engineering and other resources to eliminate the vulnerabilities and to repair or replace products already sold or licensed to our customers. Despite the security measures that we and our service providers utilize, our infrastructure and that of our service providers may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers, phishing attacks, social engineering, or similar disruptive problems. It is possible that we may have to expend additional financial and other resources to address such problems. The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing vulnerability to cyber-attacks, as more individuals and companies work online, which increases these risks. As a provider of Internet security software and technology, we may be the target of dedicated efforts by hackers and other third parties to overcome or defeat our security measures. Any physical or electronic break-in or other security breach or compromise of the information stored at our secure data centers and domain name registration systems, including any compromise due to human error or employee or contractor malfeasance, may jeopardize the security of information stored on our premises or in the computer systems and networks of our customers. In such an event, we could face significant liability and current or potential customers could be reluctant to use our services. Additionally, any such data security incident, or the perception that one has occurred could also result in adverse publicity, harm to our reputation and competitive position, and therefore adversely affect the market’s perception of the security of electronic commerce and communications over IP networks as well as the security or reliability of our services.

A security breach or other security incident could require a substantial level of financial resources to rectify and otherwise respond to, may be difficult to identify or address in a timely manner, and could result in claims, investigations, and inquires by private parties or governmental entities that may divert management’s attention and require the expenditure of significant time and resources, and which may cause us to incur substantial fines, penalties, or other liability and related legal and other costs. Any actual or perceived security breach or other security incident may also harm our reputation and make it more difficult or impossible for us to successfully market to others. Any of the foregoing matters could harm our operating results and financial condition.

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

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

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

We also expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security in the United States, the EU, and other jurisdictions. For example, the European Commission adopted a General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) that became fully effective on May 25, 2018, superseding prior EU data protection legislation, imposing more stringent EU data protection requirements, and providing for greater penalties for noncompliance. The United Kingdom enacted a Data Protection Act that substantially implements the GDPR. We are evaluating obligations imposed on us by the GDPR and we may be required to incur substantial expense in order to make significant changes to our product and business operations in connection with obtaining and maintaining compliance with the GDPR and similar legislation, such as the UK Data Protection Act, all of which may adversely affect our revenue and product sales. Additionally, California recently enacted legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) that, among other things, requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, and afford such consumers new abilities to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. We cannot fully predict the impact of the CCPA on our business or operations, but it may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Additionally, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), recently was certified by the California Secretary of State to appear on the ballot for the November 3, 2020 election. If this initiative is approved by California voters, the CPRA would significantly modify the CCPA, potentially resulting in further uncertainty and requiring us to incur additional costs. More generally, we cannot yet fully determine the impact these or future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. Privacy, data protection and information security laws and regulations are often subject to differing interpretations, may be inconsistent among jurisdictions, and may be alleged to be inconsistent with our current or future practices. Additionally, we may be bound by contractual requirements applicable to our collection, use, processing, and disclosure of various types of data, including personal data, and may be bound by, or voluntarily comply with, self-regulatory or other industry standards relating to these matters. These and other requirements could reduce demand for our products, increase our costs, impair our ability to grow our business, or restrict our ability to store and process data or, in some cases, impact our ability to offer our service in some locations and may subject us to liability. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, industry standards, and contractual obligations may adversely affect our business. Further, in view of new or modified federal, state, or foreign laws and regulations, industry standards, contractual obligations and other legal obligations, or any changes in their interpretation, we may find it necessary or desirable to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or to expend significant resources to modify our product and otherwise adapt to these changes. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and our ability to develop new products and features could be limited.

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

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

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

In addition, potential customers of our products include local, state, federal and foreign government authorities. Sales to government authorities can be extended and unpredictable. Government authorities generally have complex budgeting, purchasing, and regulatory processes that govern their capital spending, and their spending is likely to be adversely impacted by economic conditions, including impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, in many instances, sales to government authorities may require field trials and may be delayed by the time it takes for government officials to evaluate multiple competing bids, negotiate terms, and award contracts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The departure of Kendall Larsen, our Chief Executive Officer and President, and/or other key personnel could compromise our ability to execute our strategic plan and materially harm our business.

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

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

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

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

We expect to expand our presence internationally in Japan and elsewhere through, third party arrangements such as international partnerships, joint ventures and potentially establishing international subsidiaries and offices. Our international expansion may present challenges and risks, including those inherent in international operations, to us and may require significant attention from management. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic could disrupt and slow our international expansion and partnership efforts, as our international partners’ businesses could be disrupted. We may not be successful in our international partnerships, expansion efforts, and we may incur significant operating expenses in our efforts to expand internationally.

We have incurred and will continue to incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to continue to devote substantial time to various compliance initiatives.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, as well as other rules implemented by the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), impose various requirements on public companies, including requiring changes in corporate governance practices. These and proposed corporate governance laws and regulations under consideration may further increase our compliance costs. If compliance with these various legal and regulatory requirements diverts our management’s attention from other business concerns, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we assess the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually and disclosure controls and procedures quarterly. If we are unable to assert in any future reporting periods that our internal control over financial reporting is effective (or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls), we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would have an adverse effect on our share price.

Although we believe that we currently maintain effective control over our disclosures and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we may in the future identify deficiencies regarding the design and effectiveness of our system of internal control over financial reporting. If we experience any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting in the future or are unable to provide unqualified management or attestation reports about our internal controls, we may be unable to meet financial and other reporting deadlines and may incur costs associated with remediation, and any of which could cause our share price to decline. Moreover, if we identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses in future periods, the market price of our ordinary shares could decline, and we could be subject to potential delisting by the NYSE and review by the NYSE, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which would require the expenditure by us of additional financial and management resources. As a result, our shareholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which would harm our business and the market price of our ordinary shares.

There are inherent uncertainties involved in estimates, judgments and assumptions used in the preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Any changes in estimates, judgments and assumptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP involves making estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect reported amounts of assets (including intangible assets), liabilities and related reserves, revenues, expenses, and income. Estimates, judgments and assumptions are inherently subject to change in the future, and any such changes could result in corresponding changes to the amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, and income. Any such changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

Our results of operations and financial condition could be materially affected by the enactment of legislation implementing changes in the U.S. or foreign taxation of international business activities or the adoption of other tax reform policies.

As we expand the scale of our international business activities, any changes in the U.S. or foreign taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. For example, in December 2017, the legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) was enacted, which contained significant changes to U.S. tax law, including, but not limited to, a reduction in the corporate tax rate and a transition to a new territorial system of taxation. The impact of future changes to U.S. and foreign tax law on our business is uncertain and could be adverse, and we will continue to monitor and assess the impact of any such changes.

War, terrorism, other acts of violence, or natural or manmade disasters may affect the markets in which we operates, our clients and our service delivery.

Our business may be adversely affected by instability, disruption, or destruction in a geographic region in which we operates, regardless of cause, including war, terrorism, riot, civil insurrection, or social unrest, and natural or manmade disasters, including famine, flood, fire, earthquake, storm, or pandemic events and spread of disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Such events may cause our customers to delay their decisions on spending for the services we provide and give rise to sudden significant changes in regional and global economic conditions and cycles. These events may also pose risks to our personnel and to physical facilities and operations, which could adversely affect our financial results.

The global COVID-19 pandemic may harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, COVID-19 was reported in China and in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. This contagious disease outbreak has continued to spread across the globe and is impacting worldwide economic activity and financial markets. In light of the uncertain and rapidly evolving situation relating to the spread of COVID-19, we have taken precautionary measures intended to minimize the risk of the virus to our employees, our customers, and other third parties with whom we interact. We are requiring all employees to work remotely and have also suspended all non-essential travel worldwide for our employees. While we have a distributed workforce and our employees are accustomed to working remotely or working with other remote employees, our workforce is not fully remote. Our employees and consultants travel frequently to establish and maintain relationships with one another, our customers and prospective customers, partners, and investors. Although we continue to monitor the situation and may adjust our current policies as more information and public health guidance becomes available, temporarily suspending travel and restricting the ability to do business in person could negatively affect our customer success efforts, sales and marketing efforts, challenge our ability to enter into customer contracts in a timely manner, slow down our recruiting efforts, or create operational or other challenges, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, if a natural disaster, power outage, connectivity issue, or other event occurred that impacted our employees’ ability to work remotely, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, not possible, for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The increase in remote working may also result in consumer privacy, IT security and fraud concerns as well as increase our exposure to potential wage and hour issues. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic may disrupt the operations of our customers, partners, suppliers, and other third-party providers for an indefinite period of time, including as a result of travel restrictions, adverse effects on budget planning processes, and/or business shutdowns, all of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. More generally, the COVID-19 pandemic could continue to adversely affect economies and financial markets globally, potentially leading to an economic downturn, which could decrease technology spending and adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

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

Our common stock is currently listed on the NYSE and was previously listed on the NYSE American LLC (formerly the NYSE MKT LLC). Over the past years, the market price of our common stock has experienced significant fluctuations. Between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, the reported last adjusted closing price on the NYSE American LLC, and now NYSE,  for our common stock ranged between $3.20 and $7.54 per share. The price of our common stock may continue to be volatile as a result of several factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include, but not limited to, the following:

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

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

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

Further, in recent years the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In addition, the stock prices of many technology companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, government shutdowns, global pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), interest rate changes the stability of the EU and the exit of the United Kingdom or international currency fluctuations, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies.

We have broad discretion in how we apply our funds, and we may not use these funds effectively, which could affect our results of operations and cause our stock price to decline.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and could spend these funds in ways that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our common stock. Pending their use, we may invest our available funds in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value. The failure by our management to apply our available funds effectively could result in financial losses that could cause the price of our common stock to decline and delay the development of our products.

In addition, an entity that, among other things, is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, trading, or holding certain types of securities would be deemed an Investment Company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”). If we do not manage our investments and business in a manner that meets the requirements for an exemption under the 1940 Act, we may be deemed to be an investment company under the 1940 Act and subject to additional limitations on operating our business including limitations on the issuance of securities, which may make it difficult for us to raise capital.

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

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

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

The exercise of our outstanding vested stock options, warrants and RSUs would dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. As of December 31, 2020, we had outstanding options, warrants and RSUs to purchase an aggregate of 6,341,844 shares of common stock representing approximately 9% of our total shares outstanding of which 4,426,250 were vested and therefore exercisable. To the extent outstanding stock options are exercised, additional shares of common stock will be issued, existing stockholders’ percentage voting interests will decline and the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market will increase. Such increase may have a negative effect on the value or market trading price of our common stock.

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

Our reported net income has fluctuated in the past due to several factors. We expect that our future operating results may also fluctuate due to the same or similar factors. While we had net income of $280.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, we had net losses of $19.2 million for 2019 and $25.4 million for 2018, and as of December 31, 2020, we had accumulated deficits of $8.0 million. The following include some of the factors that may cause our operating results to fluctuate:

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

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

As of December 31, 2020, our executive officers and directors beneficially owned approximately 13% of our outstanding common stock. In addition, a group of stockholders that, as of December 31, 2007, held 4,766,666 shares, or approximately 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. However, we cannot be certain how many shares of our common stock this group of stockholders currently owns. Because of their beneficial ownership interest, our officers and directors could significantly influence stockholder actions of which you disapprove or that are contrary to your interests. This ability to exercise significant influence could prevent or significantly delay another company from acquiring or merging with us.

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

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

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

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

Our amended and restated bylaws designate a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, stockholders, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders, (3) any action arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws or (4) any other action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another State court in Delaware or the federal district court for the District of Delaware), in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over indispensable parties named as defendants.

However, notwithstanding the exclusive forum provisions, our amended and restated bylaws explicitly state that they would not preclude the filing of claims brought to enforce any liability or duty created under federal securities laws, including the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision. This exclusive-forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees. If a court were to find this exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.

 

None.

 

 

Our principal executive offices are located at 308 Dorla Court, Suite 206, Zephyr Cove, Nevada, 89448. We lease this property, which comprises approximately 2,090 square feet of office space, from a third party for a term that ends in October 2021. We have no other properties and believe that our office facility is suitable and appropriately supports our current business needs.

 

 

 

Not applicable.

 

PART II

 

Market Information

 

Our common stock currently trades under the symbol “VHC” on the NYSE.

 

Holders of Record

 

As of March 11, 2021, we had 53 stockholders of record. Because many of our shares of common stock are held of record by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of beneficial stockholders represented by such record holders.

 

Dividend Policy

(See "Dividend" in Note -8, in Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements).

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plan

 

See Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters for information regarding securities authorized for issuance.

 

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

 

During the year ended December 31, 2020, we had no sales of unregistered securities and no repurchases of stock.

 

 

 

The Company

We are an Internet security software and technology company with patented technology for various types of secure network communications, including 5G and 4G LTE network security. Our patented Secure Domain Name Registry and GABRIEL Connection Technology™, are the foundation for our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ that protects communications using Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Our technology generates secure connections on a “zero-click” or “single-click” basis, significantly simplifying the deployment of secure real-time communication solutions by eliminating the need for end-users to enter any encryption information. Our portfolio of intellectual property is the foundation of our business model. We currently own approximately 194 total patents and pending applications, including 70 U.S. patents/patent applications and 124 foreign patents/validations/pending applications. Our patent portfolio is primarily focused on securing real-time communications over the Internet, and related services, and is used in all our technology and products, some of which were acquired by our principal operating subsidiary; VirnetX, Inc., from Leidos, Inc., or Leidos, (f/k/a Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC) in 2006.

Our product portfolio includes sophisticated technologies, products and services that are available for sale worldwide. Our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ includes a set of software libraries with application interfaces available for securing third-party applications seamlessly across multiple operating systems. It enables individuals and organizations to maintain complete ownership and control over their personal and confidential data, secured within their own private network, while enabling authorized secure encrypted access from anywhere at any time.

Our GABRIEL Gateway product extends our Secure Communication Platform™ by allowing existing networked devices and services to seamlessly join the “GABRIEL SECURED” network without requiring any modifications. All these devices or services, including on-premise or cloud-based services, can now be assigned a VirnetX Secure Domain Name and use fully authenticated, secure communication channels for its communications.

Our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is a set of communication applications and tools that use our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™. It enables seamless and secure cross-platform communications between devices that are enrolled in our “GABRIEL SECURED” network and have our software installed. Our GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ is available for download and free trial, for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms, at https://virnetx.com.

We continue to enhance our products and add new functionality. We will provide updates to new and existing customers as they are released to the public. Many small and medium businesses have installed our GABRIEL Secure Communication Platform™ and GABRIEL Collaboration Suite™ products in their corporate networks. We intend to continue to expand our customer base with targeted promotions and direct sales initiatives.

We have an ongoing GABRIEL Licensing Program under which we offer licenses to a portion of our patent portfolio, technology, and software, including our secure domain name registry service, to domain infrastructure providers, communication service providers as well as to system integrators. Our GABRIEL Connection Technology™ License is offered to OEM customers who want to adopt the GABRIEL Connection Technology™ as their solution for establishing secure connections using secure domain names within their products. We have developed GABRIEL Connection Technology™ Software Development Kit (SDK) to assist with rapid integration of these techniques into existing software implementations. Customers who want to develop their own implementation of the VirnetX patented techniques for supporting secure domain names, or other techniques that are covered by our patent portfolio for establishing secure communication links, can purchase a patent license. The number of patents licensed, and therefore the cost of the patent license to the customer, will depend upon which of the patents are used in a particular product or service. These licenses will typically include an initial license fee, as well as an ongoing royalty.

Our employees include the core development team behind our patent portfolio, technology, and software. Some members of this team have worked together for over twenty years and were on same team that invented and developed this technology while working at Leidos, Inc. (“Leidos”). The team has continued its research and development work and expanded the set of patents we acquired in 2006 from Leidos, into a larger patent portfolio. This portfolio now serves as the foundation of our products, services, and our licensing business. It is expected to generate most of our future revenue in license fees and royalties. We intend to continue our efforts to develop new products and technologies and further strengthen and expand our patent portfolio. We intend to continue using an outsourced and leveraged model to maintain efficiency and manage costs as we grow our licensing business by, for example, offering incentives to early licensing targets or asserting our rights for use of our patents.

Litigation (all dollar amounts in this section are expressed in thousands except for rates per device)

We have several intellectual property infringement lawsuits pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division (“USDC”), and United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“USCAFC”) and the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”).

VirnetX Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. et al. (Case 6:10-CV-00417-LED) (“Apple I”)

On August 11, 2010, we filed a complaint against Aastra USA. Inc. (“Aastra”), Apple Inc. (“Apple”), Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”), and NEC Corporation (“NEC”) the USDC in which we alleged that these parties infringe on certain of our patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,502,135, 7,418,504, 7,921,211 and 7,490,151). We sought damages and injunctive relief. The cases against each defendant were separated by the judge. Aastra and NEC agreed to sign license agreements with us, and we dropped all accusations of infringement against them. A jury in USDC decided that our patents were not invalid and rendered a verdict of non-infringement by Cisco on March 4, 2013. Our motion for a new Cisco trial was denied and the case against Cisco was closed.

On November 6, 2012, a jury in the USDC awarded us over $368,000 for Apple’s infringement of four of our patents, plus daily interest up to the final judgment.

Apple filed an appeal of the judgment to the USCAFC. On September 16, 2014, USCAFC affirmed the USDC jury’s finding that all four of our patents at issue are valid and confirmed the USDC jury’s finding of infringement of VPN on Demand under many of the asserted claims of our ‘135 and ‘151 patents, and the USDC’s decision to allow evidence about our license and royalty rates regarding the determination of damages. However, the USCAFC vacated the USDC jury’s damages award and some of the USDC’s claim construction with respect to parts of our ‘504 and ‘211 patents and remanded the damages award and determination of infringement with respect to FaceTime back to the USDC for further proceedings.

On September 30, 2016, pursuant to the 2014 remand from the USCAFC, a jury in the USDC awarded us $302,400 for Apple’s infringement of four of our patents. On September 29, 2017, the USDC entered its final judgment, denied all of Apple’s post-trial motions, granted all our post-trial motions, including our motion for willful infringement and enhanced the royalty rate during the willfulness period from $1.20 to $1.80 per device, and awarded us costs, certain attorneys’ fees, and prejudgment interest. The total amount in the final judgment was $439,700, including $302,400 (jury verdict), $41,300 (enhanced damages) and $96,000 (costs, fees, and interest).

On October 27, 2017 Apple appealed the final judgment entered on September 29, 2017 to the USCAFC. Oral arguments in this case were held on January 8, 2019. On January 15, 2019, the Court issued a Rule 36 order affirming the district court’s final judgment. Apple filed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en-banc in this matter on February 21, 2019. On October 1, 2019, USCAFC issued an order denying Apple’s petition. Apple filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the SCOTUS, which was denied on February 24, 2020. Prior to the SCOTUS decision denying Apple’s petition for a writ of certiorari, on February 20, 2020, Apple filed a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from judgment with the USDC, seeking relief from the district court’s September 29, 2017 final judgment. VirnetX filed a responsive brief in opposition on March 5, 2020.

On March 13, 2020, the Company received payment of $454,034 from Apple, representing the previously announced final judgment with interest in this case. Apple sought payment relief by filing a motion under Rule 60(b). On September 1, 2020 USDC issued an order denying Apple’s motion for relief of judgement. This case is now closed.

VirnetX Inc. v. Apple, Inc. (Case 6:12-CV-00855-LED) (“Apple II”)

This case began on November 6, 2012, when we had filed a complaint against Apple in USDC in which we alleged that Apple infringed on certain of our patents, (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,502,135, 7,418,504, 7,921,211 and 7,490,151). We sought damages and injunctive relief. The accused products include the iPhone 5, iPod Touch 5th Generation, iPad 4th Generation, iPad mini, and the latest Macintosh computers; these products were not included in the Apple I case because they were released after the Apple I case was initiated. Post-trial motions hearing was held on July 18, 2018. On August 31, 2018, the USDC entered a Final Judgment and issued its Memorandum Opinion and Order regarding post-trial motions, affirming the jury’s verdict of $502,600 and granting VirnetX motions for supplemental damages, a sunset royalty, and the royalty rate of $1.20 per infringing iPhone, iPad and Mac products, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest and costs. Apple filed a notice of appeal with the USCAFC in the Apple II case.

On October 9, 2018, USCAFC docketed the appeal as Case No. 19-1050 - VirnetX Inc. v. Apple Inc . On January 24, 2019 Apple filed its opening brief. We filed our response brief on March 1, 2019. Apple filed its reply brief on April 5, 2019. The oral arguments were heard on October 4, 2019. On November 22, 2019, the USCAFC issued an opinion affirming the district court’s findings that Apple is precluded from making certain invalidity arguments and that Apple infringed the ’135 and ’151 patents; reversing the USDC’s finding that Apple infringed the ’504 and ’211 patents; and remanding the case for proceedings on damages. Apple sought panel and en banc rehearing, which the USCAFC denied on February 10, 2020.

On February 22, 2020, the USDC issued a scheduling order for the parties to brief the court about the need for a new trial for recalculating the damages. We filed our motion for entry of judgment on February 28, 2020. The arguments on this matter were heard on April 14, 2020. In its order, unsealed on May 1, 2020, the USDC denied VirnetX’s motion for entry of a new judgment based on the prior jury verdict and ordered a new jury trial on damages. On August 10, 2020, the USDC granted Apple’s motion for continuance and reset the date to October 26, 2020. On October 30, 2020, a jury returned a $502,800 verdict in favor of VirnetX based on Apple’s infringement of two network security patents: VirnetX US Patents No. 6,502,135 and No. 7,490,151. The jury verdict called for damages of $0.84 per accused device since the 2013 launch of Apple’s iOS 7 operating system and represents 598,629,580 infringing units from US sales only. On January 15, 2021, the district court denied Apple’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, and on February 4, 2021, Apple filed a notice of appeal to the USCAFC.

VirnetX Inc. v. Mangrove Partners Master Fund, Ltd., Apple Inc. (USCAFC Case 20-2271) and VirnetX Inc. v. Mangrove Partners Master Fund, Ltd., Apple Inc., and Black Swamp, LLC (USAFC Case 20-2272)

On September 15, 2020, we filed with the USCAFC an appeal of the invalidity findings by the PTAB in inter-partes review proceedings IPR2015-01046 and IPR2016-00062 involving our U.S. Patent No. 6,502,135, and an appeal of the invalidity findings by the PTAB in inter partes review proceedings IPR2015-1047, IPR2016- 00063, and IPR2016-00167 involving our U.S. Patent No. 7,490,151. On September 25, 2020, the USCAFC issued an order consolidating the two appeals. On December 15, 2020, we filed a motion to vacate the PTAB decisions below and to remand these appeals to the PTAB, which remains pending.  In view of our motion to remand, our deadline to file an initial brief is currently stayed.

Iancu v. Luoma (SCOTUS Case 20-74)

On July 23, 2020, the United States and the USPTO (collectively, “the United States”) filed a petition for a writ of certiorari from several decisions by the USAFC, including decisions in VirnetX Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., Nos. 2019-1671, and VirnetX Inc. v. Iancu, Nos. 2017-2593, -2594.  In those cases, the USAFC granted VirnetX’s motions to vacate the underlying decisions of the PTAB on the basis of Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., 941 F.3d 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2019), and remanded for further proceedings.  The United States requested that the SCOTUS hold its certiorari petition pending the disposition of the United States’ separate petition in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., No. 19-1434 (filed June 25, 2020).  On August 26, 2020, VirnetX filed a response, agreeing that the United States’ certiorari petition should be held pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-1434 (and related petitions filed by private parties in Nos. 19-1452 and 19-1458), and any further SCOTUS proceedings.

On October 13, 2020, SCOTUS granted the United States’ petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-1434 as to USAFC Case No. 2018-2140, and the petitions for writs of certiorari in Nos. 19-1452 and 19-1458, all limited to Questions 1 and 2 as set forth in the July 22, 2020 Memorandum for the United States filed in No. 19-1434. The consolidated petition is seeking review of decisions by the USCAFC holding that administrative patent judges (“APJ”) of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate; and, whether the remedy imposed by USCAFC that federal laws that place restrictions on when officials can be removed from office cannot apply to APJ, was the appropriate one. SCOTUS heard oral argument in these consolidated cases on March 1, 2021.

McKool Smith P.C. v. VirnetX, Inc., AAA Case No. 01-20-0003-7975

On March 23, 2020, the law firm of McKool Smith, P.C. (“McKool”) filed a Demand for Arbitration against VirnetX, Inc. with the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”). In its demand, McKool claims that a retention agreement it entered into in 2010 with VirnetX entitles it to a contingency fee arising from the recent 2020 payment made by Apple. McKool claims it is owed approximately $36,300 (or 8% of the Apple I payment). We have filed a general response with the AAA denying McKool’s claim and are contesting the matter vigorously. An evidentiary hearing was held on the matter during the week of February 22, 2021 and the parties will be submitting additional briefing.  A ruling is expected sometime thereafter.

Neal Hurwitz v. Kendall Larsen et al. (Case 2020-0425-JRS)

On June 2, 2020, stockholder Neal Hurwitz filed a verified derivative complaint in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Kendall Larsen, Robert D. Short Ill, Gary Feiner, Michael F. Angelo, and Thomas M. O’Brien and naming the Company as nominal defendant. The lawsuit alleges breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, and unjust enrichment arising out of a series of previously-disclosed transactions and compensation awards and seeks an award of monetary damages and equitable relief. On July 1, 2020, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint based on a failure to plead demand futility and a failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted and, on August 19, 2020, the defendants filed an opening brief in support of their motion to dismiss. On October 16, 2020, plaintiff amended his complaint rather than respond to the arguments in the defendants’ opening brief. On October 23, 2020, the defendants filed a renewed motion to dismiss plaintiff’s amended complaint based on a failure to plead demand futility and a failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. On January 12, 2021, Hurwitz voluntarily dismissed his suit without prejudice.

Other Legal Matters

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 likely valid, commencing a lawsuit can be expensive and time-consuming, and there is no assurance that we could prevail on such potential claims if we made them. In addition, bringing a lawsuit may lead to potential counterclaims which may distract our management and our other resources, including capital resources, from efforts to successfully commercialize our products.

Currently, we are not a party to any other pending legal proceedings and are not aware of any proceeding threatened or contemplated against us.

Commitments and Related Party Transactions

 

We lease our offices under an operating lease with a third party expiring in October 2021. We recognize rent expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.

 

We entered into a service agreement for the use of an aircraft from K2 Investment Fund LLC (“LLC”) for business travel for employees of the Company. We incurred approximately $324, and $1,790 in rental fees and reimbursements to the LLC during the years ended December 31, 2020, and 2019, respectively. We pay for the Company’s business usage of the aircraft and have no right to purchase. Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Administrative Officer are the managing partners of the LLC and control the equity interests of the LLC. We entered into a 12-month non-exclusive agreement with the LLC for use of the plane at a rate of $8 per flight hour, with no minimum usage requirement. The agreement contains other terms and conditions normal in such transactions and can be cancelled by either us or the LLC with 30 days’ notice. The agreement renews on an annual basis unless terminated by either party. Neither party has exercised their termination rights.

Critical Accounting Policies

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reported period. The critical accounting policies we employ in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements are those which involve impairment of long-lived assets, income taxes, fair value of financial instruments and stock-based compensation.

 

Basis of Consolidation

 

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of VirnetX Holding Corporation and our wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated.

 

Use of Estimates

 

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In doing so, we must make estimates and assumptions that affect our reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses, as well as related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. In some cases, we could reasonably have used different accounting policies and estimates. In some cases, changes in our accounting estimates are reasonably likely to occur. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from our estimates. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and actual results, our financial condition or results of operations will be affected. We base our estimates on experience and other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, at the time they are made, and we evaluate these estimates on an ongoing basis. We refer to accounting estimates of this type as critical accounting policies and estimates, which we discuss further below.

Leases

 

The Company determines if an arrangement, giving the Company a right-of-use (“ROU”) asset, is a lease at inception. Operating lease ROU assets are included in other assets on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. ROU assets represent the Company’s right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent the Company’s obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. ROU assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the commencement date of the arrangement based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. Other assets at December 31, 2020, include a ROU asset related to a facility lease for corporate promotional and marketing purposes. The facility lease was paid in full at inception and the ROU is being amortized over the term of the lease. Other assets also include an ROU related to our office operating lease which expires in October 2021 (See Note 13 - Leases).

 

Revenue Recognition

 

The Company derives revenue from licensing and royalty fees from contracts with customers which often span several years. We account for this revenue in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and recognized as revenue when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied. Our revenue arrangements may consist of multiple-element arrangements, with revenue for each unit of accounting recognized as the product or service is delivered to the customer.

With the licensing of our patents, performance obligations are generally satisfied at a point in time as work is complete when our patent rights are transferred to our customers. We generally have no further obligation to our customers regarding our technology.

Certain contracts may require our customers to enter into a hosting arrangement with us and for these arrangements, revenue is recognized over time, generally over the life of the servicing contract.

The Company actively monitors and enforces its intellectual property (“IP”) rights, including seeking appropriate compensation from third parties that utilize the Company’s IP without a license. As a result, the Company may, from time to time, receive payments as part of a settlement or compensation for a patent infringement dispute. Proceeds received are allocated to each element identified in the settlement or compensation, based on the fair value of each element. Generally, settlements and compensation may include the following elements: the value of a license or royalty agreement, cost reimbursement, damages, and interest. Elements identified related to licensing and royalty are recognized as revenue. Elements identified as reimbursed costs are generally recorded as a reduction to the reported expenses. Elements identified as damages or interest are generally recorded in other income in the condensed consolidated statement of operations.

Licensing Costs

Licensing costs are incurred pursuant to favorable court decisions relating to patent infringement cases and are included in operating expenses in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations.

Contingent Gains

ASC Topic 450-30-25, Contingent Gains, prohibits recognition of contingent gains until realized. Accordingly, we do not record contingent gains ahead of such realization. Management generally considers any such gains as realized only upon the collection of cash.

Earnings (Loss) Per Share

Basic earnings (loss) per share are computed by dividing earnings (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of outstanding common shares during the period. Diluted earnings per share are computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period increased to include the number of additional shares of common stock that would have been outstanding if the potentially dilutive securities had been issued.

Concentration of Credit Risk and Other Risks and Uncertainties

Our cash and cash equivalents are primarily maintained at two major financial institutions in the United States. A portion of those balances are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we had funds which were uninsured. We do not believe that we are subject to any unusual financial risk beyond the normal risk associated with commercial banking relationships with major financial institutions. We have not experienced any losses on our deposits of cash and cash equivalents.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

 

We identify and record impairment losses on long-lived assets used in operations when events and changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset might not be recoverable, but not less than annually. Recoverability is measured by comparison of the anticipated future net undiscounted cash flows to the related assets’ carrying value. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the projected discounted future net cash flows arising from the asset.

 

Income Taxes

We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method. The asset and liability method require the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for expected future tax consequences of temporary differences that currently exist between the tax basis and financial reporting basis of our assets and liabilities. We calculate current and deferred tax provisions based on estimates and assumptions that could differ from actual results reflected on the income tax returns filed during the following years. Adjustments based on filed returns are recorded when identified in the subsequent years. The effect on deferred taxes for a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that the tax rate change is enacted. In assessing our deferred tax assets, we consider whether it is more likely than not that all or some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

 

A valuation allowance is provided for deferred income tax assets when, in our judgment, based upon currently available information and other factors, it is more likely than not that all or a portion of such deferred income tax assets will not be realized. The determination of the need for a valuation allowance is based on an on-going evaluation of current information including, among other things, historical operating results, estimates of future earnings in different taxing jurisdictions and the expected timing of the reversals of temporary differences. We believe the determination to record a valuation allowance to reduce a deferred income tax asset is a significant accounting estimate because it is based, among other things, on an estimate of future taxable income in the United States and certain other jurisdictions, which is susceptible to change and may or may not occur, and because the impact of adjusting a valuation allowance may be material. In determining when to release the valuation allowance established against our net deferred income tax assets, we consider all available evidence, both positive and negative. Due to the 2020 income, we have released the valuation allowance against federal net deferred tax assets, and we maintain a partial valuation allowance against the state net operating loss and credit carryovers due to lack of income in California. We continually assess our ability to generate sufficient taxable income during future periods in which our deferred tax assets may be realized. If and when we believe it is more likely than not that we will recover our deferred tax assets, we will reverse the valuation allowance as an income tax benefit in our statements of operations.

 

We account for our uncertain tax positions in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The U.S. GAAP method of accounting for uncertain tax positions utilizes a two-step approach to evaluate tax positions. Step one, recognition, requires evaluation of the tax position to determine if based solely on technical merits it is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination. Step two, measurement, is addressed only if a position is more likely than not to be sustained. In step two, the tax benefit is measured as the largest amount of benefit, determined on a cumulative probability basis, which is more likely than not to be realized upon ultimate settlement with tax authorities. If a position does not meet the more likely than not threshold for recognition in step one, no benefit is recorded until the first subsequent period in which the more likely than not standard is met, the issue is resolved with the taxing authority, or the statute of limitations expires. Positions previously recognized are derecognized when we subsequently determine the position no longer is more likely than not to be sustained. Evaluation of tax positions, their technical merits, and measurements using cumulative probability are highly subjective management estimates. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates.

 

Stock-based Compensation

 

We account for stock-based compensation using the fair value recognition method. We recognize these compensation costs on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally based on the option vesting term of 4 years.

 

In addition, we record stock-based compensation expense for awards granted to non-employees at fair value of the consideration received or the fair value of the equity investments issued generally as they vest over the performance period.

 

Fair Value

 

We apply fair value accounting to all financial assets and liabilities and non-financial assets and liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a recurring basis. Fair value is estimated by applying the following hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value into three levels and bases the categorization within the hierarchy upon the lowest level of input that is available and significant to the fair value measurement:

 

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

 

Level 2 – Observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in inactive markets, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

 

Level 3 – Inputs that are generally unobservable and typically reflect management’s estimate of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.

 

Our financial instruments are stated at amounts that equal, or are intended to approximate, fair value. When we approximate fair value, we utilize market data or assumptions that we believe market participants would use in pricing the financial instrument, including assumptions about risk and inputs to the valuation technique. We use quoted valuation techniques, primarily the income and market approach that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs for recurring fair value measurements.

 

New Accounting Pronouncements

 

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2019-12 Income Taxes (Topic 740). The amendments in this ASU simplify the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740. The amendments also improve consistent application of and simplify U.S. GAAP for other areas of Topic 740 by clarifying and amending existing guidance. The amendments in this ASU are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020. We are currently evaluating the impact, if any this ASU will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, and issued subsequent amendments to the initial guidance within ASU 2019-04 and ASU 2019-05 (collectively, “ASU 2016-13”). The amendments in ASU 2016-13 replace the incurred loss impairment methodology with the current expected credit loss model, which requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to estimate credit losses. The Company adopted this ASU effective January 1, 2020 and the adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Results of Operations (all amounts in this section are expressed in thousands)

 

Revenue

 

 

Revenue generated for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $302,636 compared to revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019 of $85.  During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company collected a lump sum payment of $454,034 from Apple, Inc. (see “Legal Proceedings”), as a result of a favorable court decision relating to a patent infringement case. The one-time payment includes past royalties, damages for willful infringement, interest, court costs and attorneys’ fees. (See “Revenue Recognition” in Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.)

 

We recognized royalty revenue as part of license agreements entered into with customers during the patent infringement actions (see “Litigation”). These revenues relate to payment for use of our patented technology prior to the signing of a license agreement, and royalty payments after the execution of the license agreements.

 

Licensing Costs

 

Included in operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020, were $90,101 in licensing costs we incurred in conjunction with the proceeds received from Apple Inc., pursuant to a favorable court decision relating to a patent infringement case.

 

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 for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $8,830 compared to December 31, 2019 of $3,845. The increase in 2020 compared to 2019 was primarily due to increased compensation expense.

 

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

 

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses include compensation expense for management and administrative personnel, as well as expenses for outside legal, accounting, and consulting services.

 

Our selling, general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $45,812 compared to December 31, 2019 of $15,905. The volatility within selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily due to legal fees related to cases involving the defense of our patents. Legal fees were $30,699 and $5,898 in 2020 and 2019, respectively and represent approximately 67% of selling, general and administrative expenses for 2020 compared to 37% for 2019.

 

Gain on Settlement

 

For the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded a gain of $41,271 pursuant to a favorable court ruling in the case regarding Apple, Inc. discussed above. (See “Revenue Recognition” in Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.)

 

Interest and Other Income, net

 

Interest and other income for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $108,288 compared to December 31, 2019 of $92.  During 2020 we received interest of $108,221 pursuant to a favorable court ruling in the case with Apple, Inc. discussed above. (See “Revenue Recognition” in Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.)

 

 

Effective Income Tax Rate

 

A reconciliation of the United States federal statutory income tax rate to our effective income tax rate is as follows:

 

 

The Company’s effective tax rate for both 2020 and 2019 was lower than the statutory Federal income tax rate primarily due to the change in valuation allowance.  In 2020 we had pre-tax income of $307,452 and in 2019 we had pre-tax losses of $19,573.  At December 31, 2020, we had state net operating loss carryforwards of $107,989.  All of the Federal net operating loss (NOL) carryforwards have been utilized to offset the taxable income in 2020. The state NOL carryforwards begin expiring in 2029.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

For the year ended December 31, 2020, our cash and cash equivalents totaled $192,908 and our short-term investments totaled $28,348 compared to $3,135 and $2,394, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2019.

 

We expect that our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments as of December 31, 2020, will be sufficient to fund our current level of selling, general and administration costs, including legal expenses and provide related working capital for the foreseeable future. Over the longer term, we expect to derive the majority of our future revenue from license fees and royalties associated with our patent portfolio, technology, software and secure domain name registry in the United States and other markets around the world.

 

Universal Shelf Registration and ATM Offering

 

On July 30, 2018 we filed a $100,000 universal shelf registration statement on SEC Form S-3 which was declared effective by the SEC on August 16, 2018. We also entered an at-the-market equity offering sales agreement (“ATM”) with Cowen & Company, LLC on August 31, 2018, under which we can offer and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate value of up to $50,000.

 

We use the ATM proceeds for GABRIEL product development, marketing, and general corporate purposes, which may include working capital, capital expenditures, other corporate expenses and acquisitions of complementary products, technologies, or businesses. As of December 31, 2020, common stock with an aggregate value of up to $21,964 remained available for offer and sale under the ATM agreement.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2020, we sold 1,049,382 shares under the ATM. The average sales price per common share was $4.41 and the aggregate proceeds from the sales totaled $4,627 during the period. Sales commissions, fees and other costs associated with the ATM totaled $139.

 

Consistent with the rules applicable to “smaller reporting companies,” we have omitted the information required by Item 7A.

Item 8.          Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Financial Statements Index

 

 

 

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and
Stockholders of VirnetX Holding Corporation

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of VirnetX Holding Corporation (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the financial statements). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020, and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”), and our report dated March 16, 2021, expressed an unqualified opinion.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

/s/ Farber Hass Hurley LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2008.

Chatsworth, California

March 16, 2021

VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands, except share amounts)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)
(in thousands)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

VirnetX Holding Corporation
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
(in thousands, except share amounts)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

VIRNETX HOLDING CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(in thousands)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

VirnetX Holding Corporation
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(in thousands except share, per share and per device amounts)

Classification of Payment Received in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations
Year Ended:
		December 31, 2020
Revenue (royalties)		$	302,428
Operating expenses: selling, general and administrative (reimbursed litigation costs)			2,114
Other income: gain (willful infringement)			41,271
Other income: interest income (pre- and post-judgment interest)			108,221
Total cash received		$	454,034

		December 31
		2020				2019
Office furniture		$	79			$	79
Computer equipment			81				81
Total			160				160
Less accumulated depreciation			(149	)			(144	)
Total property and equipment, net		$	11			$	16

Options Outstanding														Options Vested and Exercisable
Range of Exercise Prices		Number Outstanding				Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (Years)				Weighted Average Exercise Price				Number Exercisable				Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (Years)				Weighted Average Exercise Price
$ 2.35 -  6.95			4,558,896				7.04			$	4.53				3,147,625				6.47			$	4.26
$ 14.52 - 35.25			1,253,625				1.71			$	23.16				1,253,625				1.71			$	23.16
			5,812,521				5.89			$	8.62				4,401,250				5.11			$	9.64

		Options
		Number of Shares				Weighted Average Exercise Price				Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (Years)				Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2018			5,998,837			$	7.72				—			$	—
Options granted			345,000				6.06				—				—
Options exercised			(663,816	)			1.23				—				—
Options cancelled			(50,000	)			4.95				—				—
Outstanding at December 31, 2019			5,630,021			$	8.49				6.11			$	516
Options granted			747,500				6.07				—				—
Options exercised			(262,031	)			3.99				—				—
Options cancelled			(302,969	)			5.30				—				—
Outstanding at December 31, 2020			5,812,521			$	8.55				5.89			$	3,650
Options exercisable at December 31, 2020			4,401,250			$	9.64				5.11			$	2,927

		RSUs
		Number of RSUs				Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value				Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2018			504,994			$	3.83			$	—
RSUs granted			229,996				6.06				—
RSUs vested			(207,334	)			4.07				—
RSUs cancelled			(29,167	)			4.65
Outstanding at December 31, 2019			498,489			$	4.71			$	86
RSUs granted			218,329				6.89				—
RSUs vested			(212,495	)			4.63				—
Outstanding at December 31, 2020			504,323			$	5.69			$	230

Stock-Based Compensation by Type of Award		Year Ended December 31, 2020				Year Ended December 31, 2019
Stock options		$	2,872			$	2,756
RSUs			1,066				955
Total stock-based compensation expense		$	3,938			$	3,711

		Year Ended December 31, 2020				Year Ended December 31, 2019
Expected stock price volatility			93.45	%			92.34	%
Risk-free interest rate			0.63	%			2.09	%
Expected life term		6.21 years				6.14 years
Expected dividends			0	%			0	%

		2020				2019
Net income (loss)		$	280,429			$	(19,180	)
Basic weighted average number of shares outstanding			70,850				68,564
Effect of dilutive securities			766				—
Diluted weighted average number of shares outstanding			71,616				68,564
Basic earnings (loss) per share		$	3.96			$	(0.28	)
Diluted earnings (loss) per share		$	3.92			$	(0.28	)

Warrants Issued	Exercise  Price	Outstanding and Exercisable December 31, 2019	Issued	Exercised	Terminated / Cancelled	Outstanding and Exercisable December 31, 2020	Expiration Date
25,000	$7.00	25,000	—	—	(25,000)	—	April 30, 2020
25,000	$5.75	—	25,000	—	—	25,000	April 30, 2025
	—	25,000	25,000	—	(25,000)	25,000	—

		Year Ended December 31, 2020				Year Ended December 31, 2019
Current:
Federal		$	35,122			$	—
State			950				(393	)
			36,072				(393	)
Deferred:
Federal			(8,816	)			—
State			(233	)			—
			(9,049	)			—
Total income tax provision (benefit)		$	27,023			$	(393	)

		Year Ended December 31, 2020				Year Ended December 31, 2019
United States federal statutory rate			21.00	%			21.00	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit			0.17	%			1.99	%
Valuation allowance			(12.22	)%			(21.96	)%
Stock based compensation			(0.01	)%			—
R&D Credit			(0.21	)%			1.34	%
Other			0.06	%			(0.38	)%
Effective income tax rate			8.79	%			1.99	%

		As of December 31, 2020				As of December 31, 2019
Deferred tax assets:
Reserves and accruals		$	48			$	62
Research and development credits and other credits			13				1,730
Net operating loss carry forward			598				27,907
Stock based compensation			8,998				8,402
Other			3				11
Total deferred tax assets		$	9,660			$	38,112
Valuation allowance			(611	)			(38,112	)
Deferred tax assets after valuation allowance			9,049				—
Total deferred tax liability			—				—
Net deferred tax assets		$	9,049			$	—

		Year Ended December 31, 2020				Year Ended December 31, 2019
Balance at the beginning of the year		$	—			$	316
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year			—				—
Additions for tax positions of prior years			—				—
Settlements			—				—
Lapse of applicable statute of limitations			—				(316	)
Balance at the end of the year		$	—			$	—

		December 31, 2020
		Adjusted Cost				Unrealized Gains				Unrealized Losses				Fair Value				Cash and Cash Equivalents				Investments Available for Sale
Cash		$	121,785			$	—			$	—			$	121,785			$	121,785			$	—
Level 1:
Mutual funds			70,996				—				—				70,996				70,996				—
U.S. agency securities			13,767				2				—				13,769				127				13,642
U.S. treasury securities			14,707				—				(1	)			14,706				—				14,706
			99,470				2				(1	)			99,471				71,123				28,348
Total		$	221,255			$	2			$	(1	)		$	221,256			$	192,908			$	28,348

		December 31, 2019
		Adjusted Cost				Unrealized Gains				Unrealized Losses				Fair Value				Cash and Cash Equivalents				Investments Available for Sale
Cash		$	2,076			$	—			$	—			$	2,076			$	2,076			$	—
Level 1:
Mutual funds			613				—				—				613				613				—
U.S. agency securities			2,837				3				—				2,840				446				2,394
			3,450				3				—				3,453				1,059				2,394
Total		$	5,526			$	3			$	—			$	5,529			$	3,135			$	2,394

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and

Stockholders of VirnetX Holding Corporation

 

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited VirnetX Holding Corporation’s (the Company’s) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

 

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows of the Company, and our report dated March 16, 2021, expressed an unqualified opinion.

 

Basis for Opinion

 

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

 

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

 

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

 

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

 

/s/ Farber Hass Hurley LLP

 

Chatsworth, California
March 16, 2021

 

None.

 

 

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

 

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, December 31, 2020.

 

The purpose of this evaluation was to determine whether as of December 31, 2020 our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that the information we are required to disclose in our filings with the SEC, (i) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

Based on their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that as of December 31, 2020, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

 

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

 

There were no changes in our internal controls over financial reporting (as such term is defined in rules 13a-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal controls over financial reporting.

 

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

 

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company. Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Internal control over financial reporting includes maintaining records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions; providing reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary for preparation of our financial statements; providing reasonable assurance that receipts and expenditures of Company assets are made in accordance with management authorization; and providing reasonable assurance that unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of Company assets that could have a material effect on our financial statements would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that a misstatement of our financial statements would be prevented or detected.

 

Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2020. There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the period ended December 31, 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. Farber Hass Hurley LLP has audited our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020; their report is included elsewhere herein.

 

 

None.

 

PART III

The information required by this item will be contained in our definitive proxy statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Proxy Statement”), which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and is incorporated in this report by reference.