Message from PALI asked Kerry Knoll the following:
Were you anticipating that Conair would appeal this judgement or was it a surprise?
To tie up 28 mil. they must think they have a strong case on appeal. What is their basis for appeal?
Are we still financially in a strong position to carry on without revenue?
I for one would welcome another option financing if it was offered to the shareholders as I was not able to take advantage of it the first time around.
Thanks in anticipation of your reply.
His Reply:
First of all, Conair has not yet appealed the judgement, but we expect them to. We have known all along that they could appeal, but realistically we expected them to come to the bargaining table before enduring the cost of posting a bond. Instead of doing so, they argued in court that they are such a fine, upstanding company that they should not have to post a bond. We pointed out that Enron was once a fine, upstanding company, and furthermore, that Conair's sole shareholder is in jail for cheating the tax man, and that Conair itself was fined for the same thing recently.
While I am not in a position to know the details, because Conair is a private company, we do know from research we have done that they do more than $1 billion in sales so it is not such a big deal for them to post a bond. The lawyers who have read the decision on our behalf think that they don't have such a good case to appeal. The bald statistics are that in 78% of patent verdicts (whether jury or judge), the original decision is upheld. Not all of the remaining 22% are completely reversed. So the odds are strongly in our favor. In the US Federal Circuit (where we are), it usually takes about 9 months for the hearing.
We are just in the process of paring down our operating expenses further until such time as we get some revenue. There is a chance to get some revenue from our other cases, which would alleviate the need for a financing. Otherwise, we will be raising some money over the next six months or so. Obviously, we hope not to do that. If we do, a rights offering (which I think you are refering to) is a strong possibility.
I hope this has been of some help.