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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

10. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Legal Contingencies

 

On December 1, 2021, Rebiotix Inc. and Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. (collectively, “Rebiotix”) filed a complaint against the Company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (the “Court”). The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity with respect to seven United States Patents owned by the Company: U.S. Patent Nos. 10,675,309 (the “’309 Patent”); 10,463,702 (the “’702 Patent”); 10,328,107 (the “’107 Patent”); 10,064,899; 10,022,406 (the “’406 Patent”); 9,962,413 (the “’413 Patent”); and 9,308,226. On February 7, 2022, the Company filed an answer and counterclaims against Rebiotix for infringement of the ’107, ’702, and ’309 Patents. In June 2022, Finch alleged infringement of the ’406 and ’413 Patents by Rebiotix. On March 7, 2022, the Company filed an amended answer and counterclaims, in which the Company, together with the Regents of the University of Minnesota (“UMN”), alleged infringement by Rebiotix of three U.S. Patents owned by UMN and exclusively licensed to the Company: U.S. Patent Nos. 10,251,914, 10,286,011, and 10,286,012, (collectively, the “UMN Patents”). On April 4, 2022, Rebiotix filed counterclaims for declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of the UMN Patents. On May 2, 2022, the Company and UMN responded, denying such counterclaims. The Court set a trial date for a five-day trial beginning on May 20, 2024. On January 23, 2023, the Company filed a second amended answer and counterclaims, in which the Company alleged infringement by Rebiotix of two additional U.S. Patents owned by Finch: U.S. Patent Nos. 11,541,080 (the “’080 Patent”) and 11,491,193 (the “’193 Patent”). On February 7, 2023, Rebiotix filed counterclaims for declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of the ’080 and ’193 patents. The Court issued a claim construction order on February 28, 2023. On July 6, 2023, Rebiotix filed a motion to dismiss certain counts of our second amended answer and counterclaims based on the assertion that Finch lacks standing to sue as to ’107 Patent, ’702 Patent, ’309 Patent, ’406 Patent, ’413 Patent, ’193 Patent, and ’080 Patent. Rebiotix specifically alleges that the sole named inventor on these patents, Thomas J. Borody, did not assign his rights in those patents to Finch, and as a result, Finch does not own them and therefore does not have standing to assert them. Briefing on this motion is complete. The parties have mutually agreed to narrow the case to include only claims from the ’309, ’702, ’193, ’080, ’914, and ’012 Patents.

 

The pending lawsuit is subject to inherent uncertainties, and the actual legal fees and costs will depend upon many unknown factors. The outcome of the pending lawsuit cannot be predicted with certainty. The Company has determined that there is no probable or estimable loss contingency that is required to be recorded as of September 30, 2023.

License and Royalty Payments

The Company is party to license and other agreements under which it is obligated to make milestone and royalty payments and incur annual maintenance fees. The Company owes a nominal annual maintenance fee under its license agreement with UMN, (the “UMN Agreement”), as well as escalating minimum royalty amounts. The minimum payments continue in perpetuity for the University of Minnesota until the agreement is terminated. On April 12, 2023, the Company amended its agreement with UMN to, among other things, allow the Company to satisfy certain performance milestones through sublicensing agreements.

 

The Company is party to an agreement with OpenBiome requiring the Company to pay certain milestones of up to $26.0 million upon the occurrence of certain R&D events, regulatory approvals, and commercial sales, and low single digit royalties on net sales of products on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis, as well as a mid-single digit royalties on sublicensing revenue related to such products.