INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Overview
We rely for our business on a combination of pending trademarks and trade secrets in order to protect our intellectual property. Our pending trademarks and trade secrets are among the most important assets we possess in our ability to generate revenue and profits and we will depend significantly on these intellectual property assets in being able to effectively compete in our markets.
We cannot be certain that the precautions we have taken to safeguard pending trademarks and trade secrets will provide meaningful protection from unauthorized use. If we must pursue litigation in the future to enforce or otherwise protect our intellectual property rights, or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, we may not prevail and will likely have to make substantial expenditures and divert valuable resources in the process. Moreover, we may not have adequate remedies if our intellectual property is appropriated or our trade secrets are disclosed.
Trademarks
We have applied for registration of a number of our trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in order to establish and protect our brand names as part of our intellectual property assets. As of the date of this annual report on Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, all of our registrations are in the preliminary stages of the application process or remain pending.
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Trade Secrets
Whenever we deem it important for purposes of maintaining competitive advantages, we require parties with whom we share, or who otherwise are likely to become privy to, our trade secrets or other confidential information to execute and deliver to us confidentiality and/or non-disclosure agreements. Among others, this may include employees, consultants and other advisors, each of whom may require to execute such an agreement upon commencement of their employment, consulting or advisory relationships. These agreements generally provide that all confidential information developed or made known to the individual by us during the course of the individual?s relationship with us is to be kept confidential and not to be disclosed to third parties except under specific circumstances.
As of the date of this annual report on Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, we have executed non-disclosure agreements with any of our key employees, consultants or advisors.
EMPLOYEES
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