55 Engaging in litigation to defend against third parties alleging that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated their patents or other intellectua t l property rights is very expensive, particularly for a company of our size, and time- consuming. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of litigation or administrative proceedings more effe f ctively than we can because of greater financial resources. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings against us could impair our ability to compete in the marketpl t ace. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effe f ct on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We may a become involved in lawsuits i to protect t or enfo n rce our paten t ts and othe t r intellectual propertyt righ i ts,s which couldl be expe x nsive, time i consuming and unsuccessful f .l Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of our licensing partners, or we may be required to defend against claims of infringement. If we assert our intellectua t l property against others, it could increase the likelihood that our patents or the patents of our licensing partners become involved in inventorship, priority or validity disputes. As discussed above, countering or defending against such claims can be expensive and time consuming. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent owned or in-licensed by us is invalid or unenfor f ceable, the other party’s use of our patented technology falls under the safe harbor to patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. §271(e)(1), or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our owned and in-licensed patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our owned or in-licensed patents at risk of being invalidated, rendered unenfor f ceable or interpreted narrowly. Furthermore, because of the subs u tantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confid f ential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. Even if we prevail in asserting our intellectual property, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectua t l property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a subs u tantial adverse effe f ct on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could subs u tantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources availabl a e for development activities or any future sales, marketing, or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately or to assert all claims we believe to be viable. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effe f ctively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectua t l property portfol f ios. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effe f ct on our ability to compete in the marketpl t ace. If our trademarks k and trade names are not adequatel t yl protect t ed t ,d then we may a not be ablel to build name recogn o itio t n in our marketst of interest and our busine i ss may a be adverse r ly affe f cted t .d We rely on trademarks, service marks, tradenames and brand names. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive reje e ctions. Although we are given an opportunity to respond to those reje e ctions, we may be unabl a e to overcome such reje e ctions. In addition, any registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we currently have or may in the future acquire may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors or other third parties may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confus f ion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. We own a registered trademark for the mark “KODIAK” and “KODIAK SCIENCES” in the United States. Over the long term, if we are unabl a e to establ a ish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effe f ctively and our business may be adversely affe f cted. Our effo f rts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectua t l property may be ineffe f ctive and could result in subs u tantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affe f ct our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Intellectual propertyt righ i ts do not necessarily i address alll poten t tial threats. t The degree of future protection affo f rded by our intellectua t l property rights is uncertain because intellectua t l property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. For example: • others may be able to make products that are similar to our product candidates or utilize similar technology but that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we may license or own;