Информация об ATC^[1]
– Отчет 10-K SEC Filing

07.01.2008

edgar-online.com

Item 1. Business.

Overview

American Technology Corporation develops and delivers innovative directed acoustic products that beam, focus and control sound over short and long distances. By placing sound only where needed, we not only enhance many typical speaker applications, but we offer novel sound applications that conventional speakers cannot achieve. We offer a range of directional sound products for applications ranging from focusing digital signage advertising on a customer at ten feet to protecting assets by communicating with and deterring threats over distances greater than 500 meters. For the last eleven years we have been at the forefront developing new acoustic innovations to project, focus, shape and control sound and we believe we have established a significant competitive advantage in our principal markets. We believe we are the leader in commercializing parametric speakers, branded as HyperSonic® sound or HSS®. Our Long Range Acoustic Device or LRAD ® is pioneering a new worldwide market for highly-directional long-range hailing and warning devices capable of communicating with authority and clarity over 500 meters.

We have 52 patents issued worldwide covering our various sound technologies, of which 41 are patents issued in the United States. We also have 105 pending patent applications worldwide, of which 34 are pending patent applications in the United States.

Our four major technology platforms are listed below:

LRAD®

Our Long Range Acoustic Device or LRAD is a technology breakthrough that creates a directed acoustic beam using low power to communicate at operational ranges with authority and superior intelligibility even in high ambient noise environments. LRAD hailing, notification and warning systems feature a 15 to 30 degree beam and a range of over 500 meters. LRAD can emit voice commands or prerecorded messages in any language. It can also emit loud and piercing warning tones. It is used to hail, notify and warn approaching vessels or personnel at significant distance in order to influence behavior, gain compliance and determine intent. LRAD was developed for the U.S. Navy to fulfill a capability gap identified after the USS Cole attack in 2000 and has been deployed with the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, as well as commercial vessels and public safety entities around the globe since the spring of 2003. We have continued to enhance the LRAD product line by creating the LRAD-R. The LRAD-R can be operated remotely across a TCP/IP network enabling system operators to respond to security threats from a safe environment. The LRAD-R can be integrated with a number of other sensors (radar, camera, etc.) creating a fully integrated unmanned perimeter security solution. Our differentiating feature is the ability to clearly communicate with the target at a distance.

HSS®

Our HyperSonic sound, or HSS, proprietary parametric speaker technology creates sound "in the air." Sound is generated along an air column using ultrasonic frequencies above the normal range of hearing. The HSS sound beam is highly directional and maintains sonic clarity and intelligibility over longer distances than traditional loudspeakers. Our HSS products are compatible with any media player but beam sound where you want it and nowhere else. We believe our substantial intellectual property portfolio and pioneering HSS products support our leadership position in the field of parametric non-linear acoustics for sound reproduction.

NeoPlanar®

Our NeoPlanar thin film magnetic speaker technology provides high clarity throughout the audio range for public address, emergency and mass notification and high-end sound applications. NeoPlanar products are based on our proprietary technology incorporating a thin film magnetic speaker that produces sound of high quality, low distortion and high volume. NeoPlanar technology powers our Sound Sentinel™ products which are capable of delivering intelligible audio in excess of 500 meters, communicating effectively over high ambient noise, controlling unnecessary noise pollution and addressing rapid multi-language communications targeted to replace horn devices and other public address systems. Our SoundSaber™ line of hardened NeoPlanar panels provide improved intelligibility in challenging acoustic environments such as hangar bays, industrial buildings, airports and other facilities.

SoundVector™

Our SoundVector technology is a patent-pending, economical and scaleable directional sound technology for replacing sound pollution generating omni-directional alarm signals, sirens, hazard signals and other directed warnings or tones.

Our results of operations depend on our sales of audio products and systems in the commercial and government markets. Our products are sold worldwide with the United States currently our largest market. Although we believe we are the leader in directed sound products, we are still in the early stage of marketing to new emerging markets and our products are not yet widely accepted. We believe that the growth in defense, homeland security and border patrol security, as well as related risk management spending by commercial customers, provides a growing market for our sound products to be used for intelligible communication and notification over long distances. We also believe digital signage provides a rapidly growing market for new sound applications not capable of being met by conventional sound devices or loudspeakers. Moreover, the development of other low-cost products gaining wide acceptance in mass markets such as low-cost plasma and flat panel screens and low-cost high-speed networks offer, in our view, significant growth opportunities for our HSS focused sound products for in-store advertising and digital signage markets.

Recent Developments

In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2007, we accomplished the following:

• In September 2006, we restructured management and officers of our company to reduce operating expenses. We also consolidated operations into our home facility in San Diego, California, closing our Maine sales office and our Carson City, Nevada facility. We discontinued the use of third-party contract manufacturing for final assembly and brought assembly in-house to control costs and improve product quality. These changes have improved profit margins and reduced operating expenses.

• Engineering emphasis was redirected to our LRAD product line including enhancing and expanding our LRAD product offerings. Our rugged LRAD emitter heads were upgraded to improve output and increase operating range. In January 2007, we introduced LRAD-R, which can be remotely operated across an IP network. LRAD-R consists of an LRAD pan/tilt system for precise audio targeting and a simple user interface. The system can be upgraded and integrated with other sensors to increase functionality.

• We focused on improving product performance and product quality resulting in a reduction of warranty expense and higher customer satisfaction.

• In March 2007, we shipped our first LRAD-R for deployment by the U.S. Navy.

• In May 2007, our LRAD 500 was selected by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army as their acoustic hailing and warning device (AHD) for small vehicles and vessels.

• In June 2007, we made first deliveries of LRAD-R to the oil and gas industry through customer L-3 Communications.

• During fiscal 2007, we expanded our international marketing activities and shipped LRAD orders to Australia, Singapore, Korea and China, indicating a growing international market for our LRAD product line.

• In September 2007, our LRAD 1000 was selected by the U.S. Navy as its AHD for Block 0 of the Shipboard Protection System.

General Information

Our shares of common stock trade on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "ATCO." Our address is 15378 Avenue of Science, Suite 100, San Diego, California, 92128, our telephone number is 858-676-1112, and our internet website is located at www.atcsd.com. We make available, free of charge through our website, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, reports filed by our directors, executive officers and certain significant shareholders pursuant to Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to

Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practical after the reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this report nor is it part of this report.

Our Technology and Products

Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)

Our Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, technology is a breakthrough directed acoustic beam device for long-range hailing and warning. LRAD was developed in 2002 following the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and in parallel with the release of Naval Vessel Protection Zone requirements to enforce a 500-yard Exclusion Zone and 100-yard Protection Zone around U.S. naval warships both in the U.S. and in the foreign ports and restricted waters. When used in military applications, LRAD products provide critical long-range communication and, when properly operated, provide an intense but not harmful beam of sound to warn away friendlies, classify non-compliants as hostile and support decisions concerning escalation of responses. LRAD is unique in part because it permits our customers to deliver a measured response in first hailing and communicating and then as a warning and deterrent, if necessary. LRAD supports the difficult missions of waterside force protection against small boats, crowd control, area denial of personnel, clearing buildings and search and seizure operations and border patrol. LRAD also supports perimeter security for oil and gas facilities, platforms, nuclear power plants and other sensitive, strategic assets. LRAD permits military troops and public safety officials to maintain distance between themselves and a potential threat, providing time to inform and change behavior and to save lives on both sides of the device.

We currently offer three LRAD models each with a variety of accessories or customizable to a customer's requirements:

• Our LRAD 1000 hailing product delivers voice and tone clarity in a 15 to 30 degree beam at distances of over 500 meters, using only two amps of current. This directional beam provides a significant advantage over traditional public address devices as intense sound can be targeted without adverse impact to the operator or disruption of others near the device.

• A smaller version of the LRAD, the LRAD 500, features reduced size and weight for easier transport and vehicle or aircraft mounting. The LRAD 500 allows police to provide clear instructions to crowds, fire crews to communicate to persons in buildings, maritime vessels to communicate with small vessels, security personnel to communicate in multiple languages at distance, airport managers to scare away birds that could pose a danger to aircraft, agents to provide instructions from airborne craft including helicopters, and many other activities. It can be mounted on vehicles for increased mobility and is used extensively by U.S. forces in Iraq and in some Homeland Security operations.

• A remote pan and tilt option (the LRAD-R) allows the operator to change the direction of the device and communicate at remote distances from the device, increasing safety and the time to diffuse tense situations. The LRAD-R can be integrated with other sensors (radar, camera, etc.) to create a fully-integrated unmanned security solution to allow a remote operator to assess a threat and respond with authority.

In addition to a microphone input, we include an MP3 player so that our LRAD products can communicate prerecorded phrases in various languages. We offer other accessories including our LRAD-Scram cart for rapid deployment and other customized mounts and brackets to integrate sensors (cameras, lights, radar and others) into a single security solution.

We are developing additional products and accessories for our LRAD product line that we expect will enable us to strengthen our competitive position in the market for directed hailing and warning.

HyperSonic Sound (HSS)

Our HSS products pioneered a new paradigm in sound production based on well-known principles of physics. The common speaker types in use today such as dynamic, electrostatic, ribbon and other transducer-based designs, are direct radiating, and are fundamentally a piston action, directly pumping air molecules into motion to create audible sound waves we hear. Parametric or nonlinear acoustics, on the other hand, use changing pressures in air to produce sound indirectly.

HSS employs a combination of an ultrasonic powered emitter and a proprietary signal processor/amplifier to focus sound into a tight beam for optimal directionality and intelligibility. Similar to a beam of light, HSS uses ultrasonic energy to "shine" sound on a very specific area. Audible sound is not created on the surface of the ultrasonic emitter as it is on a direct radiating loudspeaker. Instead, the audible sound is generated in the air itself and is focused and directed. Using any media player with line-level output, HSS converts music or voice into a complex ultrasonic signal prior to amplification. Once emitted, the converted sound forms a tight sound column in front of the emitter, which remains focused as it encounters listeners. Also, the sound does not spread at the same rate over distance as it does with traditional speakers. This unique feature provides greater sound clarity and intelligibility at selected distant points with less energy than traditional speakers, creating the ability to communicate directed sound at very long distances. HSS provides extremely accurate control of sound placement for digital signage, paging and announcing systems, point-of-purchase and general retail advertising, tradeshow exhibits and many other audio applications.

We currently offer the HSS H450 with a 5 by 10 inch emitting surface and the HSS H460 with double the emission surface area. HSS is adaptable to meet the needs of many existing sound reproduction markets and enable novel applications of sound reproduction.

NeoPlanar Speakers

Our NeoPlanar technology is a thin film planar magnetic type speaker that uses novel films, magnetic materials and a manufacturing process that we believe provides improved cost/performance benefits. Traditional planar magnetic speakers have been limited in range, expensive, or have used materials with limited power handling ability. Our NeoPlanar technology provides the ability to build cost-effective lightweight, flat and thin speakers with high power output providing exceptional clarity over long distances. We offer Neoplanar panels in a variety of sizes for custom installation and packaged for installation in mass notification applications.

SoundVector

Our SoundVector technology is a patent-pending economical and scaleable directional sound technology designed to replace noisy omni-directional alarm signals, sirens, hazard signals and other devices emitting non-directional warnings or tones. Our advanced development group created this technology. Our strategy is to license this technology and we executed our first commercial license of this technology in fiscal 2005 for vehicle backup alarms. In 2006, the licensee launched its first product.

Other Proprietary Technologies and Products

We have other sound inventions, technologies and products in various stages of development including our Sound Barrier vehicle system which incorporates an LRAD type sound system into a vehicle, our PureBass® Sub-woofer technology, our Stratified Field Technology, or SFT ®, that employs a thin form, non-magnetic film to produce high quality sound, our Sound Cluster customized horn array that automatically adjusts to an ambient noise environment, and other technologies and products in various stages of development. We devote significant resources on research and development to improve our current technologies and products and develop new technologies and products. See "Research and Development" below.

Revenues by Major Product Category

For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2007, 2006 and 2005, LRAD product revenues were $7,700,138, $5,620,500, and $8,822,366, respectively, which represented 78%, 63% and 87% of revenues in each of the respective years. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2007, 2006 and 2005, HSS product revenues were $1,305,582, $2,390,960 and $783,589, respectively, which represented 13%, 27% and 8% of revenues in each of the respective years.

Strategy

We believe we are building on our leadership position in the field of directed or focused sound for both short-range and long-range communication with high clarity. Our overall strategy is to offer an increasing variety of directed sound and other products for an increasing range of applications. In executing our strategy, we use direct sales to larger end-users, system integrators and defense-related companies and we are building a worldwide distribution channel consisting of partners and resellers that have significant expertise and experience selling integrated communications solutions into our various target markets.

A major initiative for fiscal 2008 is to accelerate revenue growth by increasing direct sales to larger commercial and defense-related companies desiring to use our directed sound technology in their integrated product offerings. Our senior executive and sales and marketing personnel are focused primarily on the government, military, homeland and international security, private and commercial maritime and digital signage markets. We also plan to focus on expanding and strengthening domestic and international sales channels by adding key channel partners, distributors and dealers.

We intend to continue to promote the expansion of markets and customers for directed sound. Our expanding target markets include the government, military, homeland and international security, private and commercial security applications, automobile, personalized audio, and alert/alarm, digital signage, public display and public venue industries. We believe these markets and others provide attractive opportunities for our products. Our goal is to continue to expand market penetration for our LRAD products and to see HSS and NeoPlanar used in a wide range of commercial and consumer audio products and systems.

We have established a reputation for providing innovative sound solutions and have increased our brand recognition for LRAD and HSS. We actively promote our brands on our products and through our licensing arrangements. We intend to continue to increase the use of our trademarks throughout our product distribution chain and believe growing brand awareness will assist us in expanding our business.

For certain applications or market segments our strategy is to employ licensing when we believe other Original Equipment Manufacturers ("OEMs") offer financial advantages. We believe there are a number of OEM and licensing opportunities for our innovative sound technologies. For example, we have granted a non-exclusive license to Harman International Industries to manufacture and use NeoPlanar technology in the OEM automotive market. During fiscal 2006, Harman began selling automotive products using Neoplanar technology. We have also entered into a design and manufacturing license agreement with ECCO Group, the world's largest manufacturer of backup alarms for commercial vehicles. The agreement covers the initial licensing and product development of our SoundVector technology for ECCO and its affiliates for backup vehicle alarms. In April 2006, ECCO launched its first product based on this technology.

Our research and development strategy is to continue to develop innovative directed acoustic solutions and to design new products for introduction into our target markets. In 2007, we made significant improvements to the performance and quality of our existing directed sound products and introduced new products like the LRAD-R. We have ongoing development efforts to continue to improve our products' performance and quality. We also engage in ongoing value engineering to reduce the cost and simplify the manufacturing of our products. While most of our directed sound products are used for some form of government, military or commercial applications, we believe improved performance and lower cost could open new market applications.

Manufacturing and Suppliers

Manufacturing. We believe maintaining quality manufacturing capacity is essential to the performance of our products and the growth of our business. Our technologies are substantially different from proven, mass produced sound transducer designs and manufacturing and assembly involves new processes and materials. We do not believe our products have been produced in sufficient quantities to be considered mass produced. We contract with third party suppliers to produce various HSS and LRAD components and sub-assemblies. At our

San Diego facility, we complete the final assembly of, and test and ship, HSS, LRAD and NeoPlanar products for both commercial and government systems. We have refined our internal business processes to improve how we design, test and qualify product designs. We continue to implement more rigorous manufacturing and quality processes to track production and field failures. We have developed custom manufacturing equipment used to automate the production of key HSS and NeoPlanar sub-assemblies reducing the labor component and permitting higher volume production. We implement design and component changes periodically to reduce our product costs, improve product reliability and improve operating margins.

Suppliers. Our products have a large number of components and sub-assemblies produced by outside suppliers. In addition, for some of these items, we qualify only a single source, which can magnify the risk of shortages and decrease our ability to negotiate with our suppliers on the basis of price. In particular, we depend on our HSS piezo-film supplier to provide expertise and materials used in our proprietary HSS emitters, and we rely on one supplier of compression drivers for our LRAD products. If shortages occur, or if we experience quality problems with suppliers, then our production schedules could be significantly delayed or costs significantly increased, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operation and cash flows.

Selling and Marketing

We market and sell products and services through our executive officers and a seven person sales force located in San Diego, California, Maine, Washington, Maryland and Hong Kong. Our sales and administrative offices are located in San Diego, California.

We make direct sales to larger end-users and defense-related companies. We also use a channel distribution model in which we sell our products directly to a small network of worldwide independent resellers and system integrators who then sell our products (or our products integrated with other systems) to end-user customers. We are focusing our internal business development resources on building relationships with defense integrators and other large, direct customers.

Customer Concentration

For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2007, revenues from two customers, ADS, Inc., and Genesisone General Trading & Supply accounted for 18% and 10% of revenues, respectively. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006, revenues from two related customers, ADS, Inc. and ADS International, collectively accounted for 41% of revenues with no other single customer accounting for more than 10% of revenues. ADS, Inc. is a reseller to end users in various branches of the military such as the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, the Department of Homeland Security and international customers.

Our revenues have to date relied on a few major customers. The loss of any customer could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our goal is to diversify sound technology revenues in future periods.

Our order backlog for products that are deliverable in the next 12 months was approximately $1,000,533 at September 30, 2007 compared to $7,623,292 at September 30, 2006. Our backlog was reduced in the year ended September 30, 2007 due to an amendment to a contract with a large customer. In June 2007, we amended our agreement with this customer to reduce the committed quantity in order to assist the customer in obtaining financing to support the continued installation of its in-store broadcasting network which includes our product. In exchange for this amendment, we became an exclusive supplier of audio for future installations over a period of two years. We have not included any backlog for this customer at September 30, 2007 as there is no firm purchase order quantity. At September 30, 2006, this customer's backlog was $4,185,000. Backlog orders are subject to modification, cancellation or rescheduling by our customers.

Warranties

We generally warrant our products to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period up to one year from the date of purchase, depending on the product. The warranty is generally a limited warranty, and in some instances imposes certain shipping costs on the customer. To date, we have been providing direct warranty service, but in the future we may establish warranty service through OEM customers or others. Some of our agreements require OEM customers to stock certain quantities of product for use as warranty replacements. Our international market warranties are generally similar to the warranties we offer in the U.S. market.

Competition

Our technologies and products compete with those of other companies. The consumer, commercial and government audio industry markets are fragmented and competitive and include numerous manufacturers with audio products that vary widely in price, quality and distribution channels. Manufacturers of consumer and commercial speakers include Harman International, Boston Acoustics and many others. Many of our present and potential future competitors have, or may have, substantially greater resources to devote to further technological and new product developments. We believe we compete primarily on the originality of our concepts, the uniqueness and quality of our technology and designs, the ease and cost of manufacturing and implementing our technologies, the ability to meet customer needs to differentiate their products, the strength of our intellectual property and the strength of licensee and contract supply arrangements. We may not, however, be competitive with the existing or future products, technologies or services of our competitors.

We believe our LRAD products are the leading directed hailing products for military and commercial applications. The broad category of government audio industry speakers includes competitors such as IML Sound Commander, Technomad Inc, ATI, Dynalec, Henschel and others. We do not believe these competitors have achieved significant market penetration in the government or commercial directed hailing markets to date. We believe our LRAD product line has demonstrated acceptance and has performed extremely well in harsh environments and can continue to compete on the basis of technical features, performance, ease of use and cost.

We believe HSS is the leading parametric speaker with little direct competition to date. Companies such as Brown Innovations and others have employed domes and other techniques to try to focus or contain sound for directed sound applications such as point-of-sale. We do not believe these methods are directly competitive to HSS in ease of use, cost and performance. Although others have attempted to use parametric speaker concepts to produce sound, we do not believe they have progressed to the point of cost-effective and directly competitive commercial products as compared to HSS. Holosonic Research Labs, Inc. produces a parametric speaker called the Audio Spotlight. Sennheiser Electronics has announced a parametric speaker product called the AudioBeam Master and Mitsubishi has a parametric speaker product which is sold in Japan. These companies employ electrostatic and piezoelectric emitter devices, which we believe have lower output and are more expensive than our proprietary emitters. However, these parametric speaker competitors or others may introduce products with features and performance competitive to our products.

We believe our NeoPlanar technology is novel and has distinct market attributes compared to existing and competing flat panel and traditional speaker designs. We believe our NeoPlanar technology produces high intelligibility and reliability for a range of consumer, commercial and government applications. Other companies that compete in the flat panel market include, but are not limited to: (1) high-end electrostatic flat panel manufacturers such as Martin Logan and others, and (2) NXT Plc and its licensees employing the NXT flat panel technology, which uses a magnetic actuator to produce vibrations over a rigid panel. We are not aware of companies offering flat panel technology comparable to our NeoPlanar products, but others may introduce products with competitive features and performance.

We believe our SoundVector directed acoustic technology is novel with distinct technical and market attributes for the backup alarm and other alert and warning tone markets. While we believe the demonstrated directivity of our warning tones is an important technical and performance advantage, we compete with traditional speakers and horns used in these markets. Others may modify existing products or offer new products with features and performance competitive to our SoundVector technology.

We intend to continue our strategy to aggressively seek patent protection for our intellectual property.

There are also continuing attempts by a large number of competitors to innovate new methods of sound reproduction to overcome limitations of traditional loudspeakers. It is possible that alternate technologies and systems that would be directly competitive with our sound technology have been developed but are unknown to us. Such systems may also currently be in development, and may be developed by others in the future.

Seasonality

Government business tends to be seasonal due to government procurement cycles, with the quarter ending September 30 usually producing relatively higher sales and the quarter ending December 31 usually producing relatively lower sales. We have not experienced any significant seasonality trends to date, but we may experience increased seasonality in the future.

Government Regulation and Environmental Matters

Some of our electronic products are subject to various regulations and are required to meet the specifications of agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). We believe we are in substantial compliance with all current applicable regulations, and that we have all material governmental permits, licenses, qualifications and approvals currently required for our operations.

Our HSS technology is subject to control under the Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act of 1968, and the associated regulations promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as an electrical emitter of ultrasonic vibrations. Under the terms of such regulations, we provided an abbreviated report to the FDA describing the technology. The FDA may respond to the report and request changes or safeguards to the technology, but it has not done so to date. We will also be required to notify the FDA in writing should an HSS product be found to have a defect relating to safety of use due to the emission of electronic product radiation. We do not believe our HSS technology poses any human health risks. However, it is possible that we, or one of our OEM customers or licensees, could be required to modify the technology, or a product incorporating the technology, to comply with requirements that may be imposed by the FDA.

Our products are being produced to standard product safety requirements for sale in the United States and to similar requirements for sale in Europe and Canada. We expect to meet the electrical and other regulatory requirements for electronic systems or components we sell throughout the world.

We are also subject to environmental regulation with respect to our product sales to European customers. The European Union (EU) has finalized the Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) directive, which regulates the collection, recovery and recycling of waste from electrical and electronic products, and the Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) directive, which bans the use of certain hazardous materials including lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and halogenated flame-retardants. In order to comply with the WEEE directive, we will be required to contribute to the cost of collection, treatment, disposal and recycling of past and future covered products. In order to comply with the RoHS directive, we may need to substantially alter product designs and/or find alternate suppliers for critical components used in those products. Because detailed regulations on practices and procedures related to WEEE and RoHS are evolving in member states and because we have yet to assess fully the ramifications to our products, we are presently unable to reasonably estimate the amount of any costs that we may incur in order to comply with WEEE and RoHS. Failure to achieve compliance with the RoHS directive prior to the required implementation date would adversely impact our ability to sell products in EU member states that have begun enforcement of the directive.

We are also subject to U.S. government export controls. We believe our shipments to foreign customers comply with such government regulations. We rely on our customers to inform us when they plan to deliver our products to other countries and we regularly advise our customers of the export controls with which they must comply. However, a violation of U.S. export controls by us or our customers could seriously harm our business.

Ability of U.S. Government Agencies to Terminate Contracts

We have provided and expect to continue to provide products and services under contracts or subcontracts with U.S. federal, state, local and foreign government agencies. These contracts may be subject to cancellation if government funding becomes unavailable, and may also include provisions that allow the government agency to terminate the contract without penalty under some circumstances. The unexpected termination or cancellation of one or more of these contracts could result in a material adverse effect on our company's financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Intellectual Property Rights and Proprietary Information

We operate in an industry where innovations, investment in new ideas and protection of resulting intellectual property rights are important to success. We rely on a variety of intellectual property protections for our products and technologies, including patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and contractual obligations, and we pursue a policy of vigorously enforcing such rights.

We have a substantial base of intellectual property assets. We have 52 patents issued worldwide, of which 41 are in the U.S. We also have approximately 105 patents pending worldwide, of which 34 are in the U.S. on our proprietary sound technologies. Our issued patents expire between 2010 and 2025. We are preparing and intend to file other sound technology patent applications. We target our patent coverage to provide protection in the major manufacturing and commercial centers of the world.

In addition to such factors as innovation, technological expertise and experienced personnel, we believe that a strong patent position is important to compete effectively in the sound reproduction industry. We believe this is especially important to protect our leadership position in parametric acoustics (HSS). The following table lists some of our key HSS patents and patent applications and the inventions they cover:

Key Patent and Patent Application

The following table lists some of our other key sound patents and patent applications and the inventions they cover:

We have an ongoing policy of filing patent applications to seek protection for novel features of our products and technologies. Prior to the filing and granting of patents, our policy is to disclose key features to patent counsel and maintain these features as trade secrets prior to product introduction. Patent applications may not result in issued patents covering all important claims and could be denied in their entirety.

We are investing significant management, legal and financial resources toward our technology patents. The electronics industry is characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Others, including academic institutions and competitors, hold numerous patents in electronics and sound reproduction. Although we are not aware of any existing patents that would materially inhibit our ability to commercialize our sound technology; others may assert claims in the future. Such claims, with or without merit, may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

The validity of our existing patents has not been adjudicated by any court. Competitors may bring legal action to challenge the validity of our existing or future patents or may attempt to circumvent the protection provided by such patents. The failure to obtain patent protection or the loss of patent protection on our existing and future technologies or the circumvention of our patents by competitors could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete successfully.

We generally take advantage of the Patent Convention Treaty procedures for patent protection in foreign countries. This procedure is more cost efficient, but results in a delay in the application and issuance of foreign patents; however, any resulting foreign patents, if and when issued, enjoy the same priority date as U.S. counterparts.

We also file for trade name and trademark protection when appropriate. We are the owner of federally registered trademarks including HYPERSONIC®, HSS®, LRAD®, SFT®, STRATIFIED FIELD®, PMT®, NEOPLANAR ®, PUREBASS® and SHAPING THE FUTURE OF SOUND®. Trade names or trademarks may not be successfully maintained, defended or protected.

Our policy is to enter into nondisclosure agreements with each employee and consultant or third party to whom any of our proprietary information is disclosed. These agreements prohibit the disclosure of confidential information to others, both during and subsequent to employment or the duration of the working relationship. These agreements may not prevent disclosure of confidential information or provide adequate remedies for any breach.

We are obligated to pay a $2.50 per unit royalty on one electronic component for our HSS product. We are also obligated to pay Elwood G. Norris, our Chairman, a 2% royalty on net sales from certain of our technologies, of which only HSS is a current offering of our company. The royalty obligation continues for any period during which we sell products or license technologies subject to any patent assigned to us by Mr. Norris. No royalties were paid or recorded under this agreement in the fiscal years ended September 30, 2007, 2006, or 2005, as these royalties were immaterial and were waived by Mr. Norris. The amounts of the royalties waived were $26,112, $47,819 and $15,672 for the years ended September 30, 2007, 2006 and 2005, respectively. We may owe royalties in future periods based on actual sales or technology revenues.

Research and Development

The sound reproduction market is subject to rapid changes in technology and designs with frequent improvements and new product introductions. We believe our future success will depend on our ability to enhance and improve existing technologies and to introduce new technologies and products on a competitive basis. Accordingly, we have in the past, and we expect in the future, to engage in significant research and development activities.

For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2007, 2006 and 2005, we spent approximately $2.2 million, $1.9 million and $4.7 million, respectively, on company-sponsored research and development. Future levels of research and development expenditures will vary depending on the timing of further new product development and the availability of funds to carry on additional research and development on currently owned technologies or in other areas.

Executive Officers

The current executive officers of American Technology Corporation and their ages and business experience are set forth below.

Elwood G. Norris, age 69, has been a director of our company since August 1980. Mr. Norris served as Chief Executive Officer from October 2000 until February 2003. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board, an executive position, in which he serves in a technical advisory role to our company and acts as a spokesman for our products. He served as President from August 1980 to February 1994. Mr. Norris managed our research and development activities as Chief Technology Officer through December 2000. From 1988 to November 1999, he was a director and Chairman of e.Digital Corporation, a public company engaged in electronic product development, distribution and sales. During that period, he also held various other executive officer positions at e.Digital. From August 1989 to October 1999, he served as director and held various executive officer positions with Patriot Scientific Corporation, a public company engaged in the development of microprocessor technology and in patent licensing. He is an inventor with 47 U.S. patents, primarily in the fields of electrical and acoustical engineering. He is the inventor of our HyperSonic Sound and other technologies.

Thomas R. Brown, age 57, has been a director of our Company since March 2006 and was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer in August 2006 and Interim Chief Financial Officer in September 2006. Mr. Brown served as President of BrownThompson Executive Search, a financial executive search firm, from April 2005 to August 2006. Mr. Brown was employed by Sony Electronics, Inc. from February 1988 to September 2004. From April 2001 to September 2004, Mr. Brown was Executive Vice President and Deputy President of the Engineering and Manufacturing division of Sony Electronics, Inc., where he was responsible for supply chain operations including Information Technology, Procurement, Customer Service, North American Manufacturing Operations and Finance. From April 2000 to September 2004, Mr. Brown was concurrently the Executive Vice President and President of Information Technology Division for Sony Electronics, where he was responsible for establishing the North American personal computer manufacturing division. Mr. Brown is a member of the board of directors of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a provider of video game accessories. Mr. Brown holds a B.A. in Economics from Rutgers University in 1973. Mr. Brown is also a certified public accountant.

Katherine H. McDermott, age 47, was appointed as Controller/Chief Accounting Officer in June 2007 and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in September 2007. Ms. McDermott served as the chief financial officer for National Pen Company from 2005 to 2006 and the vice president of finance for Lantronix, Inc., a publicly traded technology company, from 2000 to 2005. Ms. McDermott held a variety of senior financial positions with Bausch & Lomb from 1988 to 1999 and began her career holding a number of financial positions with a component division of General Motors from 1982 to 1988. Ms. McDermott holds a B.A. in Business Administration from St. Bonaventure University and an MBA from the William E. Simon School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester.

James Croft, III, age 54, joined our company in October 1997 as Vice President of Engineering. In December 2000, he was appointed Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Croft was appointed Senior Vice President of Research and Development in March 2003. In August 2005, he was appointed as Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Development. From October 1992 to October 1997 he was an executive with Carver Corporation, then a publicly traded high-end audio supplier. He was appointed Vice President of Marketing and Product Development for Carver Corporation in March 1993 and Vice President Research and Development in February 1995. From 1990 through October 1992 Mr. Croft held various positions at Dahlquist, Inc., a loudspeaker manufacturer, including Vice President of Research and Development. Mr. Croft is also a member of the board of directors of Definitive Audio, Inc., a Seattle audio specialty retailer that he co-founded in 1975 and managed until 1985. Mr. Croft is an inventor with 30 U.S. patents, primarily in the field of electro-acoustics.

Employees

At September 30, 2007, we employed a total of 38 people. Of such employees, 11 were in research and development, 10 were in production, quality assurance and materials control, 10 were in general and administrative and 7 were in marketing, sales and licensing. We also lease technical and production personnel from time to time on an as needed basis and use outside consultants for various services. We have not experienced any work stoppages and are not a party to a collective bargaining agreement, and we consider our relations with our employees to be favorable.

1. До 2010 года компания называлась American Technology Corporation (ATC), а до 2019 - LRAD Corporation. Сейчас компания называется Genasys.com (Прим. от 27.12.2023)
.

Первоначальный материал по ссылке удален.