Envoy Medical (COCH) Risk Analysis

We rely on patents, trade secrets, copyrights, know-how, trademarks, license agreements and contractual provisions to establish our intellectual property rights and protect our products. These legal means, however, afford only limited protection and may not completely protect our rights. As of March 2, 2026, our exclusively-owned patent portfolio included 40 issued patents in the United States and 48 issued patents in other countries. We cannot assure you that our intellectual property position will not be challenged or that all patents for which we have applied will be granted. The validity and breadth of claims in patents involve complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, may be highly uncertain. Uncertainties and risks that we face include the following: - our pending or future patent applications may not result in the issuance of patents;- the scope of any existing or future patent protection may not exclude competitors or provide competitive advantages to us;- our patents may not be held valid or enforceable if subsequently challenged;- other parties may claim that our products and designs infringe the proprietary rights of others and even if we are successful in defending our patents and proprietary rights, the cost of such litigation may adversely affect our business; and - other parties may develop similar products, duplicate our products, or design around our patents. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce or license all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner, or in all jurisdictions. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions, and under the laws of certain jurisdictions, patents or other intellectual property rights may be unavailable or limited in scope. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our developments before it is too late to obtain patent protection. In addition, the laws of foreign jurisdictions may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, most countries outside of the United States do not allow patents for methods of treating the human body. This may preclude us from obtaining method patents outside of the United States having similar scope to those we have obtained or may obtain in the future in the United States. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. Moreover, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the "USPTO") or patent offices in foreign jurisdictions, or become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology and compete directly with us, without payment to us. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical products and techniques, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology. While we are aware of several third-party patents of interest, we do not believe that any of our products infringe any valid claims of patents or other proprietary rights held by others. However, there can be no assurances that we do not infringe any patents or other proprietary rights held by third parties. If our products were found to infringe any proprietary right of another party, we could be required to pay significant damages or license fees to such party and/or cease production, marketing and distribution of those products. We also rely on trade secrets and other unpatented proprietary technology. There can be no assurances that we can meaningfully protect our rights in our unpatented proprietary technology or that others will not independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary products or processes or otherwise gain access to our proprietary technology. We seek to protect our trade secrets and proprietary know-how, in part, with confidentiality agreements with employees and consultants that include customary intellectual property assignment obligations. Litigation may also be necessary to defend infringement claims of third parties or to enforce patent rights we hold or to protect trade secrets or techniques we own. There can be no assurances, however, that the agreements will not be breached, adequate remedies for any breach would be available or competitors will not discover our trade secrets or independently develop comparable intellectual property. If we are unable to successfully protect our intellectual property, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.

Our ability to implement our business plan depends on the continued services of key members of our senior management. In particular, and to a critical extent, we are dependent on the continued efforts and services of the members of our management team. If we lose the services of such key members of our management team, we would likely be forced to expend significant time and money in the pursuit of replacement individuals, which may result in a delay in the implementation of our business plan and plan of operations. We may not be able to find satisfactory replacements on terms that would not be unduly expensive or burdensome to us. We do not currently carry a key-man life insurance policy that would assist us in recouping our costs in the event of the death or disability of our management team. The loss of members of our management team, or our inability to attract or retain other qualified individuals, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our production of Acclaim CI devices is currently limited to production of prototype devices and devices for our early feasibility study. As a result, our purchases of supplies and components are limited to date. However, we expect that we will need to significantly increase our production rates to meet the supply of Acclaim CI devices needed for our clinical trials and, if the Acclaim CI obtains FDA approval, for eventual commercialization, which we are targeting to obtain in late 2027 or early 2028. We also expect that some of the critical materials and components used in manufacturing the Acclaim CI may be sourced from single suppliers, which may expose us to greater risks as we increase production of Acclaim CI devices than if our supplier base were more diversified. For example, our suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including, for example, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, equipment malfunction and environmental factors, failure to properly conduct their own business affairs, and infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, any of which could delay or impede their ability to meet our increased requirements. An interruption in the supply of a key component could significantly delay our production of the Acclaim CI or increase our production costs. When we increase production, our reliance on these third-party suppliers will also subject us to other risks that could harm our business, including: - we are not, and will not in the near future be, a major customer of many of our suppliers, and these suppliers may therefore give other customers' needs higher priority than us;- we may not be able to obtain an adequate supply of components in a timely manner, on commercially reasonable terms or at all;- our suppliers, especially new suppliers, may make errors in manufacturing that could adversely affect the efficacy or safety of our products or cause delays in shipment;- we may have difficulty locating and qualifying additional or alternative suppliers;- switching components or suppliers may require product redesign and possibly resubmission to the FDA or other similar foreign regulatory agencies, which could impede or delay our commercial activities;- one or more of our suppliers may be unwilling or unable to supply components for our products in a timely manner, on commercially reasonable terms or at all;- the occurrence of a fire, natural disaster or other catastrophe impacting one or more of our suppliers may affect their ability to deliver products to us in a timely manner or at all; and - our suppliers may encounter financial or other business hardships unrelated to our demand, which could inhibit their ability to fulfill our orders and meet our requirements. We may not be able to quickly establish additional or alternative suppliers if necessary, in part because we may need to undertake additional activities to establish such suppliers as required by the regulatory approval process. Any interruption or delay in obtaining products from our third-party suppliers, or our inability to obtain products from qualified alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could materially impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers and cause them to switch to competing products. Given our reliance on a limited number of suppliers, we may be susceptible to supply shortages while looking for alternate suppliers, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and the trading price of our securities.

As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information called for by this Item. However, for a discussion of the material risks, uncertainties and other factors that could have a material effect on us, please refer to the risk factors disclosed in the section of the Form 10-K titled “Risk Factors,” as filed with the SEC on March 23, 2026.

The market price of our Class A Common Stock may continue to be volatile and, in the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert management's attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

We are currently dependent on the successful commercialization of the Acclaim CI to generate revenues. As a result, factors adversely affecting our ability to successfully commercialize, or the pricing of or demand for, this product could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to successfully commercialize or create market demand for the Acclaim CI, we will have limited ability to generate revenues. Furthermore, we may be vulnerable to fluctuations in demand for the Acclaim CI, and a reduction in demand for the Acclaim CI would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Such fluctuations in demand may be due to many factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, among others: - market acceptance of a new product, including healthcare professionals' and patients' preferences;- market acceptance of the clinical safety and performance of the Acclaim CI;- development of similarly cost-effective products by our competitors;- development delays of the Acclaim CI;- adverse medical side effects suffered by patients using the Acclaim CI, whether actually resulting from the use of the Acclaim CI or not;- changes in regulatory policies toward hearing loss technologies;- changes in regulatory approval, clearance requirements and licensure for our product;- third-party claims of intellectual property infringement;- budget constraints and the availability of reimbursement or insurance coverage from third-party payors for the Acclaim CI;- any developments affecting the long-term implantation and use of the Acclaim CI; and - responses from certain of our competitors to the offering of the Acclaim CI.