A posting back in June 2010 regarding a detailed
disclaimer in a press release prompted one commentator to note that “the depressing thing is that companies need to keep issuing
statements like this, which are there (it seems to me) more to reduce the risk
of legal action for negligent misstatement than to educate and inform the
investor”.
Those looking to educate and inform investors could do worse
than to refer to the recent IPO prospectus from SolarCity, a US company in the
field of solar panels. The company is
chaired by Elon Musk, who also chairs Telsa Motors,
previously discussed here and here.
The headline statement
- ‘Our business may be harmed
if we fail to properly protect our intellectual property’ - reads
like standard IP-wash. What follows,
however, is a welcome dose of realism:
‘We believe that
the success of our business depends in part on our proprietary technology’: an acknowledgement that IP is far from
being the sole determinant of success.
‘We cannot be
certain that we have adequately protected or will be able to adequately protect
our proprietary technology’
and, candidly,
‘We cannot be
certain that our patents provide us with a competitive advantage’.
Rather than highlighting weaknesses, SolarCity’s
statements indicate realism and, thus, strength.
No comments:
Post a Comment