Litigation Funding Agreement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                            13 July 2020

Nanoco Group PLC

 

("Nanoco", the "Group", or the "Company")

 

Litigation Funding Agreement

 

Agreement funds patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung

 

Nanoco Group plc (LSE: NANO), a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials emanating from its technology platform, today announces that it has signed a Litigation Funding Agreement ('LFA' or 'Agreement') with a very large U.S. litigation finance specialist with extensive experience in financing technology-based IP patent litigation matters (the 'Funder').

 

On 17 February 2020, the Group announced that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against various Samsung entities in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The lawsuit claims infringement of a number of Nanoco's U.S. patents which relate to Nanoco's unique synthesis and resin capabilities for quantum dots. Nanoco retained Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. ('Mintz'), an international IP law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, to represent it in patent enforcement and litigation. Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, an IP law firm based in Longview, Texas, USA, was retained to act as local counsel.

 

Under the LFA, the Funder will fund the costs of the litigation against Samsung. The LFA removes the funding burden for the suit from Nanoco and its shareholders. In return, the Funder can expect to receive a multiple of their invested capital in the event of a settlement or judgement in favour of Nanoco. Patent infringement cases can take 2 years or more to get to trial and cost many millions of dollars to prosecute.

 

The Board is confident in the strength of Nanoco's IP portfolio and the suit against Samsung. Damages models indicate that the Group will retain the majority of any financial award or settlement and the Group's relative and absolute share of any award will increase with the size of the overall award.

 

Dr Michael Edelman, Nanoco's CEO, commented:

 

"We are particularly pleased to be working with IP lawyers and a Funder who have strong and established track records for successfully pursuing patent infringement cases, including against Samsung. The successful outcome of their extensive and detailed due diligence, including the use of independent experts, adds to our significant confidence in our case against Samsung for what we believe to be their willful infringement of our intellectual property. This follows on from the similarly detailed due diligence performed by our strategic adviser (Epicentre IP Group LLC) and litigation counsel (Mintz).

 

"With third party funding for the costs of the litigation, alongside our recently announced agreement with STMicroelectronics underpinning our cash runway through the second quarter of 2021, we now have a platform on which to deliver new commercial business wins and further extend our cash runway while actively pursuing this lawsuit against Samsung."

 

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

Nanoco Group PLC:

Michael Edelman, CEO                                                                                                        +44 (0) 161 603 7900

Brian Tenner, COO & CFO                                                                                                  +44 (0) 161 603 7900

Caroline Watson, Investor Relations Manager                                                               +44 (0) 7799 897 357

[email protected]

 

Peel Hunt:

Edward Knight                                                                                                                      +44 (0) 20 7418 8900

Nick Prowting

 

MHP Communications:                                                                                                       +44 (0) 203 128 8570

Reg Hoare

Giles Robinson

Pete Lambie

[email protected]

 

The person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of Nanoco is Brian Tenner, Chief Financial Officer.

MAR

The information contained within this announcement is considered by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.  Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information will be considered to be in the public domain.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement (including information incorporated by reference in this announcement) and other information published by Nanoco may contain statements about Nanoco that are or may be deemed to be forward looking statements.  Such statements are prospective in nature.  All statements other than historical statements of facts may be forward looking statements.  Without limitation, statements containing the words "targets", "plans", "believes", "expects", "aims", "intends", "will", "may", "anticipates", "estimates", "projects" or "considers" or other similar words may be forward looking statements.

Forward looking statements inherently contain risks and uncertainties as they relate to events or circumstances in the future.  Important factors such as business or economic cycles, the terms and conditions of Nanoco's financing arrangements, tax rates, or increased competition may cause Nanoco's actual financial results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any forward looking statements.  Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.  Nanoco disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking or other statements contained herein, except as required by applicable law.

Notes for editors:

About Nanoco Group plc

Nanoco (LSE: NANO) harnesses the power of nano-materials. Nano-materials are materials with dimensions typically in the range 1 - 100 nm. Nano-materials have a range of useful properties, including optical and electronic. Quantum dots are a subclass of nano-material that have size-dependent optical and electronic properties. The Group produces quantum dots. Within the sphere of quantum dots, the Group exploits different characteristics of the quantum dots to target different performance criteria that are attractive to specific markets or end-user applications such as the Display and Electronics markets. One of the interesting properties of quantum dots is photoluminescence: the emission of longer wavelength light upon excitation by light of a shorter wavelength. The colour of light emitted depends on the particle size. Nanoco's CFQD^® quantum dots are free of cadmium and other toxic heavy metals and can be tuned to emit light at different wavelengths across the visible and infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for a wide range of applications including displays, lighting and biological imaging.

Nanoco was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK, with a US subsidiary, Nanoco Inc., in Concord, MA. Nanoco continues to build out a world-class, patent-protected IP portfolio generated both by its own innovation engine, as well as through acquisition.

Nanoco is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the ticker symbol NANO. For further information please visit: www.nanocotechnologies.com.