Quarterly report pursuant to sections 13 or 15(d)

Contingencies

v2.4.0.6
Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Contingencies
13. Contingencies:

In the ordinary course of business the Company may become a party to various legal proceedings generally involving collection actions, contractual matters, infringement actions, product liability claims and other matters.

On March 26, 2012, Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. and Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, Inc. (collectively, “Philips”) filed a lawsuit (civil action no. 12-cv-10549) in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the Company alleging that the Company’s Array and certain other products infringe certain of Philips’ patents for LED lighting. In September 2012, the Company entered into a settlement agreement ending the patent litigation brought by Philips. In connection with the settlement and patent license agreement, Philips granted the Company an ongoing, royalty-bearing license to the comprehensive portfolio of patented LED technologies and solutions offered under Philips’ LED luminaire and retrofit bulb licensing program. The license allows Revolution to continue the manufacture and sale of LED-based lighting products, including the Array® brand of LED replacement light bulbs. In September 2012, Revolution paid Philips a one-time, lump-sum royalty fee to address past sales. In conjunction with the settlement and patent license agreement, on October 3, 2012, the parties filed a joint stipulation requesting dismissal of the lawsuit and on October 4, 2012 the action was dismissed without prejudice. Prior to the merger of the Company with Seesmart, Seesmart also received a letter from Philips claiming patent infringement and threatening litigation if a license agreement was not negotiated. As a subsequently acquired subsidiary of the Company, Seesmart falls under the Company’s settlement agreement with Philips. However, Philips and Seesmart must first agree to the scope of infringing products, and Seesmart may be required to make a payment to address historical product sales.

On May 10, 2011, the CAO Group, Inc. (“CAO”) filed a lawsuit (civil action no. 2:11-cv-00426) in the United States District Court for the District of Utah Central Division against the Company alleging that the Company’s Array and certain other products infringe three of CAO’s patents for LED lighting. The complaint also lists GE Lighting, Osram Sylvania, Lighting Science Group Corporation, Sharp Electronics Corporation, Toshiba International Corporation, Feit Electric Company, Inc., and Lights of America, Inc. as defendants. The plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief, monetary damages and reimbursement of its attorney’s fees and costs. The Company is evaluating CAO’s claims. The Company intends to vigorously defend its products. In September 2012, GE Lighting and Osram Sylvania filed requests for reexaminations of the three asserted CAO patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”). The court stayed the litigation through February 28, 2013, pending a decision on the requests to grant the reexaminations. In November and December of 2012, the PTO ordered the reexamination of at least the independent claims of the patents. The parties of the lawsuit have jointly agreed to stay the lawsuit until after the issuance by the United States Patent Office of a notice of intent to issue a reexamination certificate in any one of the identified reexaminations. The order for the stay was issued March 22, 2013.

 

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The following discussion and analysis provides information that management believes is useful in understanding our operating results, cash flows and financial condition. The discussion should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this report and the audited Financial Statements and related Notes to Financial Statements contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. All references in this report on Form 10-Q to “Revolution,” “Revolution Lighting,” “the Company,” “we,” “us,” “our company,” or “our” refer to Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. and our consolidated subsidiaries.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the discussions in this report contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe-harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, the attainment of which involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may”, “should”, “expect”, “plan”, “believe”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “continue”, “predict”, “forecast”, “intend”, “potential”, or similar terms, variations of those terms or the negative of those terms. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, among other factors:

 

   

our history of losses and anticipated future losses and that we may not be able to remain viable if we are unable to increase revenue, or raise capital, as needed;

 

   

the future issuance of additional shares of common stock and/or preferred stock could dilute existing stockholders;

 

   

a substantial portion of our capital structure consists of convertible preferred stock which has a liquidation preference senior to our common stock and is convertible into shares of our common stock at prices that are less than current market values;

 

   

we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the rules of NASDAQ and, as a result, are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements that offer protections to shareholders of other NASDAQ-listed companies;

 

   

our majority stockholder controls the outcome of all matters submitted for stockholder action, including the composition of our Board of Directors and the approval of significant corporate transactions;

 

   

the risk that demand for our LED light bulbs fails to emerge as anticipated and the potential failure to make adjustments to our operating plan necessary as a result of any failure to forecast accurately;

 

   

the risk that we will not be able to successfully integrate our acquisitions, including our recent acquisition of Seesmart Technologies, resulting in losses and impairments;

 

   

competition from larger companies in each of our product areas;

 

   

dependence on suppliers and third-party manufacturers; and

 

   

the risk that we may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or that infringement claims by others may subject us to significant costs even if the claims are invalid and that an adverse outcome in litigation could subject us to significant liabilities, require us to license disputed rights from others or require us to cease marketing or using certain products or technologies.

Additional information concerning these or other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained or projected in, or even implied by, such forward-looking statements is contained in this report and also from time to time in our other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Readers should carefully review the risk factors described in other documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Neither our company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of these forward-looking statements. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this report on Form 10-Q to conform our prior statements to actual results.