The ability to obtain intellectual properly protection on key aspects of the business is most likely an issue related to .

Summary: This guidance provides the Division of Corporation Finance’s views regarding disclosure obligations that companies should consider with respect to intellectual property and technology risks that may occur when they engage in international operations.

Supplementary Information: The statements in this CF Disclosure Guidance represent the views of the Division of Corporation Finance. This guidance is not a rule, regulation or statement of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved its content. This guidance, like all staff guidance, has no legal force or effect: it does not alter or amend applicable law, and it creates no new or additional obligations for any person.

Introduction
The global and technologically interconnected nature of today’s business environment exposes companies to a wide array of evolving risks. Our principles-based disclosure regime, rooted in materiality, recognizes that a variety of new risks may arise over time, and each of these risks may affect different companies in different ways. The Securities and Exchange Commission and its staff have recently issued statements and guidance discussing a number of these risks to assist public companies both in assessing their materiality and in drafting related disclosure that is material to an investment decision.[1] This guidance continues those efforts and addresses risks to technology and intellectual property that may result from conducting business outside the United States, particularly in jurisdictions that do not have comparable levels of protection of corporate proprietary information and assets such as intellectual property, trademarks, trade secrets, know-how and customer information and records.

The increased reliance on technology, coupled with a shift in the composition of many companies’ assets from traditional brick-and-mortar assets towards intangible ones, may expose companies to material risks of theft of proprietary technology and other intellectual property, including technical data, business processes, data sets or other sensitive information. While many companies may face these types of risks, companies that conduct business in certain foreign jurisdictions, house technology, data and intellectual property abroad, or license technology to joint ventures with foreign partners may have more significant exposure.[2]