Dear Shareholders,
I hope this letter finds you safe, healthy and abiding by the recommendations of our brave healthcare professionals to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The world certainly feels dramatically different than it did at the time of our last update. However, amidst the upheaval, our team has remained focused on executing our strategy. Our accomplishments in 2019 have laid the foundation for a very busy remainder of 2020.
Our strategy is deeply rooted in our philosophy that patents remain a mispriced asset class which is uncorrelated to the broader market and represent a compelling opportunity for companies with expertise such as ours. With a proven ability to identify valuable assets and a stable of best in class counsel and experts to engage them with; we believe Quest is conditioned with regard to the fundamental opportunities ahead.
2019 Operational Highlights:
14 matters resolved, generating more than $4 million dollars in revenue.
9 of the 16 matters active as of December 31, 2019 were either dismissed or stayed pending final settlement agreement as of the end of Q1.
7 active matters with 5 trials docketed for 2020 with additional programs staged for launch.
68 patent assets added to the portfolio via the M-Red acquisition.
Uplist to the OTCQB Venture Market in an effort to provide additional transparency, value and liquidity to shareholders.
Our focus continues to be delivering long-term shareholder value. As one of the largest shareholders, I strongly believe value results from building a large, diversified asset base, and engaging those assets in strategically structured licensing programs. Long-term shareholder value is not dependent on any one portfolio, patent, case or defendant. We are building a quality portfolio of assets that can provide a consistent revenue stream, as opposed to singular litigation opportunities. We intend to accomplish that by seeking the best assets, partners, structures and strategies. A defendant in a patent infringement litigation has 27 patent defenses, fail in overcoming any one of them, and its game over. We believe the antidote to that type of systematic risk is diligence, diversification and dispassionate decision-making.
Strategic Growth Plan:
Evaluate every opportunity to expand and further diversify our portfolio;
Trust our analytically driven diligence process to identify targets for addition to a diversified portfolio of high quality assets;
Continue to explore strategic partnerships and management additions to augment our sourcing, acquisition and investor communication capabilities;
Engage best in class counsel and experts in a manner that shares risk and align interests while maximizing our economics – note that full contingency does not make sense for every firm or every case, especially complex technology which bring substantial out of pocket cost;
Scale our operations through the launch of multiple structured licensing programs across multiple portfolios, resulting in a broadly diversified portfolio of licensing investments and programs;
Maintain our commitment to a data driven, analytic, dispassionate and commercially minded approach to strategic licensing program management.
Management strives to communicate as much information as possible. However, aside from the publicly available information filed with the Court, significant aspects of the litigation process are strictly confidential. Furthermore, much of what is available and important can be difficult to identify and interpret. The result is that, what may appear to be a binary outcome driven business, is really a business driven by our ability to anticipate, assimilate and adapt to the ever shifting landscape of each litigation.
Ultimately, we work with counsel to ensure compliance, be as transparent as possible and not undermine our monetization strategy. We welcome shareholder feedback as we continue to seek to strike the appropriate balance.
I am confident that we are well positioned to leverage the unique opportunities before us and are excited for the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Jon Scahill
President & CEO
Statements made in this post include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "plan," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements are inherently subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate, and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and are advised to consider the factors listed above together with the additional factors under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as may be supplemented or amended by the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise.