Commitments And Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments And Contingencies

Note 8:  Commitments and Contingencies

Royalty Payments

The Company signed a license agreement on March 29, 1999 with Eastman Kodak (“Kodak’), under which it is obligated to make royalty payments. Under this agreement, the Company must pay to Kodak a minimum royalty plus a certain percentage of net sales with respect to certain products, which percentages are defined in the agreement. The percentages are on a sliding scale depending on the amount of sales generated. Any minimum royalties paid will be credited against the amounts due based on the percentage of sales. The royalty agreement terminates upon the expiration of the issued patent which is the last to expire.  The Company was notified that Kodak sold substantially all rights and obligations under the Company’s license agreement to Global OLED Technology (“GOT”) as of December 30, 2009.

In late 2008, the Company began evaluating the status of its manufacturing process and the use of the intellectual property (“IP”) associated with its license agreement.  After this analysis and after making a few changes to its manufacturing process, by the end of 2008 the Company had stopped using the IP covered under the license agreement.  The last royalty payment under the license agreement was made in November 2009.  The Company determined that it is no longer required to pay the minimum royalty payment and as such has not paid or accrued this amount.  

In April 2011, the Company received a request for royalty payments from a representative of GOT. The Company responded stating that the licenses were no longer in force and that the request for royalties was untimely.  Although GOT does not agree, both parties have expressed an interest in resolving the disagreement amicably.  Communications to date have been preliminary regarding its resolution.  The Company estimates that the range of loss contingency is between $0 and $250 thousand.

Operating Leases

The Company leases office facilities and office, lab and factory equipment under operating leases.  Certain leases provide for payments of monthly operating expenses. The Company currently has lease commitments for space in Hopewell Junction, New York, Bellevue, Washington, and Santa Clara, California.  

The Company’s manufacturing facilities are leased from IBM in Hopewell Junction, New York.  eMagin leases approximately 37,000 square feet to house its equipment for OLED microdisplay fabrication and for research and development, an assembly area and administrative offices. The lease expires May 31, 2014 with the option of extending the lease for five years.   The corporate headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington where eMagin leases approximately 6,300 square feet.   The lease expires on August 31, 2014.  In addition, the Company leases approximately 2,400 square feet of office space for design and product development in Santa Clara, California and the lease has been extended to October 31, 2015.

Rent expense was approximately $302 thousand and $905 thousand, respectively, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and approximately $302 thousand and $889 thousand, respectively, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011.

Equipment Purchase Commitments

The Company has committed to equipment purchases of $1.7 million at September 30, 2012.