Well-Capitalized to Pursue Patent Litigation and Growth Opportunities
BOSTON, MA , Aug. 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Worlds, Inc. (OTCQB: WDDD) (“Worlds” or the “Company”), a leading intellectual property developer and licensee of patents related to 3D online virtual worlds, today announced the issuance of the following shareholder letter from its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thom Kildrin:
Dear Worlds family, partners and shareholders,
I write to you today with gratitude, pride and excitement. Gratitude and pride for the dedication and support of our partners and shareholders in our accomplishments to date, and great excitement for the value I see for us in the path ahead.
Firstly, I’d like to discuss our cash balance and capital structure, which are important to our foundation in building shareholder value. When we spun off Worlds Online, Inc. in January 2011, we retained 5,936,115 shares of common stock in Worlds Online Inc., which is now named MariMed, Inc. and operates within legal jurisdictions of cannabis. MariMed, Inc. is publicly traded as MRMD and is currently trading at $2.37 for over a $400 million market capitalization value.
These shares are retained on the books of our Company with a book value of $0. In 2017 and through the three months ended March 31, 2018, we sold 1,651,850 shares at an average price of $0.75, raising $1,230,207. As of April 1, 2018, we own approximately 4,284,265 shares in MariMed, Inc., currently valued at $10.1 million, which equates to most of our current market capitalization at $0.20 per share.
During the January 2018, we received an additional $875,000 upon the exercise of 35,000,000 warrants to purchase 35,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at $0.025 per share. The S-1 Registration Statement filed on May 1, 2018 with the SEC, relates to 10.5 million shares from these existing shareholders and their cash exercise of warrants. The Registration Statement has since been declared effective on June 22, 2018. This group of long-term fundamental individual investors initially provided $875,000 of cash to the Company in October 2017.
As of March 31, 2018, we had a total of 49,354,833 shares outstanding and $1,147,409 in cash.
We are adequately capitalized for the remainder of 2018 and with our stock position in MariMed, Inc., we have the means to raise additional cash in a non-dilutive manner.
Now turning to our patent portfolio, litigation and business strategy going forward. We believe that multi-user, interactive 3D is becoming a “hot” area and our patent portfolio is well-positioned to take advantage of that.
We intend to continue to increase, and to more aggressively enforce, our IP against alleged infringers. We intend to endeavor to prosecute our issued patents and any future issued patents against all parties that we and our legal counsel believe to be infringing on our patents. We may also seek to acquire additional patents we believe will enhance our portfolio position in the markets within which our existing patents cover.
Worlds Inc. has retained all of its related Intellectual Property (IP) consisting of the 10 existing patents,
(6,219,045; 7,181,690; 7,493,558; 7,945,856; 8,082,501; 8,145,998; 8,161,385; 8,407,592; 8,640,028; 9,110,567).
The description of the initial patent is as follows:
“The present invention provides a highly scalable architecture for a three dimensional, multi-user, interactive virtual world system. In a preferred embodiment a plurality of users interact in the three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space where each user executes a client process to view a virtual world from the perspective of that user. The virtual world shows Avatars representing the other users who are neighbors of the user viewing the virtual world. In order that the view can be updated to reflect the motion of the remote user's Avatar, motion information is transmitted to a central server process that provides position updates to client processes for neighbors of the user at that client process. The client process also uses an environment database to determine which background objects to render as well as to limit the number of displayable Avatars to a maximum number of Avatars displayable by that client.”
On March 30, 2012, the Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Activision Bizzard Inc., Blizzard Entertainment Inc. and Activision Publishing Inc. in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Susman Godfrey LLP is lead counsel for the Company. The costs to prosecute those parties that the Company and our legal counsel believe to be infringing on said patents are expensed by the Company.
On May 26, 2015, Bungie, Inc. filed three Petitions for Inter Partes Review with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”), and specifically, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). These Petitions for Inter Partes Review, Case Nos. IPR2015-01264, -01268, and -01269 respectively contained validity challenges of three U.S. patents assigned to the Company. On June 1, 2015, Bungie, Inc. filed three additional Petitions for Inter Partes Review with the USPTO, and specifically the PTAB. The Petition for Inter Partes Review, Case No. IPR201501319 contained validity challenges of one additional U.S. patent assigned to the Company. The Petitions for Inter Partes Review, Case Nos. IPR2015-01321 and 01325 contained validity challenges of one additional U.S. patent assigned to the Company. In each Inter Partes Review, Bungie, Inc. was asking the PTAB to cancel issued claims from the Company’s patents.
Earlier this year on January 22, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit scheduled the oral argument for Worlds’ appeal of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Patent Trial & Appeal Board (USPTO PTAB) Inter Partes Review (IPR) decisions that issued in November and December, 2016. The oral argument took place before a panel of three judges of the Federal Circuit on March 9, 2018. A decision on these appeals is expected within the 2018 calendar year.
The Federal case before Judge Denise Casper has been stayed pending the outcome of the IPR appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”).
With all of this positive momentum building and an eye to the future of building long-term shareholder value, our Board and management believed it was an appropriate time to retain a proactive strategic investor relations firm to help us reach new potential investors and effectively communicate our investment thesis. In doing so, we have engaged Hayden IR, a well-known national investor relations firm, to develop a comprehensive investor relations program. Our goal with Hayden IR is to re-introduce Worlds, Inc. to the investment community, increase our awareness and shareholder base and enhance shareholder value. We are confident that throughout their national footprint, Hayden IR will help us more effectively communicate our business strategy, business objectives and corporate milestones to a wider audience of sophisticated investors.
Hayden IR is a highly regarded investor relations consulting firm known for its ability to connect underfollowed and undervalued emerging growth companies with sophisticated institutional investors, buy-side and sell-side analysts, retail brokerage firms and accredited individual investors. Leveraging decades of cumulative experience, Hayden IR develops strategies to help clients effectively communicate with the investment community and works to increase their exposure through targeted outreach and transparent positioning. Hayden IR helps public companies deliver the right message to the right audience. Over time, Hayden IR helps its clients navigate up the Wall Street value chain and to help them secure a reasonable valuation by broadening their audience, expanding institutional ownership and ensuring clear, consistent communication with the public.
In closing, we are very excited for what is ahead for Worlds, Inc. and look forward to increasing our communication and transparency with shareholders and prospective new shareholders.
All good wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous second half of 2018 and into 2019 to our families, partners and sharetakeholders,
Sincerely,
Thom Kidrin
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Worlds, Inc.
Worlds, Inc. (OTCQB: WDDD), is a leading intellectual property developer and licensee of patents related to 3D online virtual worlds. The Company has a portfolio of 10 US patents for multi-server technology for 3D applications. The earliest of these patents issued on an application filed November 12, 1996. A provisional patent application, serial number 60/020,296, was filed on November 13, 1995. These patents are related to each other and disclose and claim systems and methods for enabling users to interact in a virtual space.
For additional information about Worlds, Inc., please visit: www.Worlds.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements and information relating to Worlds Inc. that are based on the beliefs of Worlds' management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events including estimates and projections about its business based on certain assumptions of its management, including those described in this Release. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Additional risk factors are included in the Company’s public filings with the SEC. Should one or more of these underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as “hoped,” “anticipated,” “believed,” “estimated,” “should,” “preparing,” “expected” or words of a similar nature. The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.