Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Notes to Financial Statements

3. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Spherix Incorporated and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Biospherics Incorporated, Nuta Technology Corp, Spherix Portfolio Acquisition I, Inc., and Spherix Portfolio Acquisition II, Inc.  Prior to the Merger with Nuta, North South had formed three Delaware limited liability corporations on July 26, 2013, Guidance IP, LLC (“Guidance”), Directional IP, LLC. (“Directional”) and CompuFill LLC. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”).  This requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect certain reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the period.  The Company’s significant estimates and assumptions include the recoverability and useful lives of long-lived assets, stock-based compensation, valuation of warrants, the valuation of assets acquired and common and preferred stock issued in the acquisition of North South, and the valuation allowance related to the Company’s deferred tax assets.  Certain of the Company’s estimates, including the carrying amount of the intangible assets, could be affected by external conditions, including those unique to the Company and general economic conditions. It is reasonably possible that these external factors could have an effect on the Company’s estimates and could cause actual results to differ from those estimates and assumptions.

Concentration of Cash

The Company maintains cash balances at four financial institutions in checking accounts and money markets.  The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less when purchased to be cash and cash equivalents.  The Company maintains cash balances at several banks.  Interest bearing accounts at each institution are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) up to $250,000.  At December 31, 2013, the Company’s interest bearing deposits in excess of the FDIC limits was $2.4 million.  The Company has not experienced any losses in such accounts and believes it is not exposed to any significant credit risk on cash.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is recognized when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery of the product or service has occurred, all obligations have been performed pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured.  Revenue from the licensing of the Company’s intellectual property  and settlements reached from legal enforcement of the Company’s patent rights is recognized when the arrangement with the licensee has been signed and the license has been delivered and made effective, provided license fees are fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured.  The fair value of licenses achieved by ordinary business negotiations is recognized as revenue.

The amount of consideration received upon any settlement or judgment is allocated to each element of the settlement based on the fair value of each element.  Elements related to licensing agreements, royalty revenues, net of contingent legal fees, are recognized as revenue in the consolidated statement of operations.  Elements that are not related to license agreements and royalty revenue in nature will be reflected as a separate line item within the other income section of the consolidated statements of operations.  Elements provided in either settlement agreements or judgments include: the value of a license, legal release, and interest.  When settlements or judgments are achieved at discounts to the fair value of a license, the Company allocates the full settlement or judgment, excluding specifically named elements as mentioned above, to the value of the license agreement or royalty revenue under the residual method. Legal release as part of a settlement agreement is recognized as a separate line item in the consolidated statements of operations when value can be allocated to the legal release.  When the Company reaches a settlement with a defendant, no value is allocated to the legal release since the existence of a settlement removes legal standing to bring a claim of infringement and without a legal claim, the legal release has no economic value.  The element that is applicable to interest income will be recorded as a separate line item in other income. The Company does not assume future performance obligations in its license arrangements.  Revenue from the monetization of the Company’s intellectual property during the year ended December 31, 2013 was not significant.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues include the costs and expenses incurred in connection with the Company’s patent enforcement activities, including inventor royalties paid to original patent owners, contingent legal fees paid to external patent counsel, other patent-related legal expenses paid to external patent counsel, licensing and enforcement related research, consulting and other expenses paid to third parties and the amortization of patent-related acquisition costs.

Inventor Royalties and Contingent Legal Expenses

Inventor royalties are expensed in the period that the related revenues are recognized. In certain instances, pursuant to the terms of the underlying inventor agreements, costs paid by the Company to acquire patents are recoverable from future net revenues. Patent acquisition costs that are recoverable from future net revenues are amortized over the estimated economic useful life of the related patents, or as the prepaid royalties are earned by the inventor, as appropriate, and the related expense is included in amortization expense.

Contingent legal fees are expensed in the period that the related revenues are recognized. In instances where there are no recoveries from potential infringers, no contingent legal fees are paid; however, the Company may be liable for certain out of pocket legal costs incurred pursuant to the underlying legal services agreement. Legal fees advanced by contingent law firms that are required to be paid in the event that no license recoveries are obtained are expensed as incurred.

Accounting for Warrants

The Company accounts for the issuance of common stock purchase warrants issued in connection with the equity offerings in accordance with the provisions of ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”).  The Company classifies as equity any contracts that (i) require physical settlement or net-share settlement or (ii) gives the Company a choice of net-cash settlement or settlement in its own shares (physical settlement or net-share settlement).  The Company classifies as assets or liabilities any contracts that (i) require net-cash settlement (including a requirement to net-cash settle the contract if an event occurs and if that event is outside the control of the Company) or (ii) gives the counterparty a choice of net-cash settlement or settlement in shares (physical settlement or net-share settlement).

The Company assessed the classification of its common stock purchase warrants as of the date of each offering and determined that such instruments met the criteria for liability classification.  The warrants are reported on the consolidated balance sheet as a liability at fair value using the Black-Scholes valuation method.  Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants result in the recognition of other income or expense.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, accounts and other receivables, accounts payable and accrued liabilities are carried at cost, which management believes approximates fair value due to the short-term nature of these instruments. The Company measures the fair value of financial assets and liabilities based on the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. The Company maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value.

The Company uses three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1 - quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities

Level 2 - quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets or inputs that are observable

Level 3 - inputs that are unobservable (for example, cash flow modeling inputs based on assumptions)

Intangible Assets – Patent Portfolios

Intangible assets include the Company’s patent portfolios with original estimated useful lives ranging from 6 months to 12 years. The Company amortizes the cost of the intangible assets over their estimated useful lives on a straight line basis.  Costs incurred to acquire patents, including legal costs, are also capitalized as long-lived assets and amortized on a straight-line basis with the associated patent. As disclosed in Note 1, the Company acquired certain patent portfolios in the third and fourth quarters of 2013.

Patents includes the cost of patents or patent rights (hereinafter, collectively “patents”), acquired from third-parties or acquired in connection with business combinations. Patent acquisition costs are amortized utilizing the straight-line method over their remaining economic useful lives, ranging from one to ten years. Certain patent application and prosecution costs incurred to secure additional patent claims, that based on management’s estimates are deemed to be recoverable, are capitalized and amortized over the remaining estimated economic useful life of the related patent portfolio.

Goodwill

Goodwill is the excess of cost of an acquired entity over the fair value of amounts assigned to assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. Goodwill is subject to impairment testing at least annually and will be tested for impairment between annual tests if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicated the carrying amount may be impaired. ASC Topic 350 provides an entity with the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If, after assessing the totality of events or circumstances, an entity determines it is not more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then performing the two-step impairment test is unnecessary. If the two-step impairment test is necessary, a fair-value-based test is applied at the reporting unit level, which is generally one level below the operating segment level. The test compares the fair value of an entity's reporting units to the carrying value of those reporting units. This test requires various judgments and estimates. The Company estimates the fair value of the reporting unit using a market approach in combination with a discounted operating cash flow approach. Impairment of goodwill is measured as the excess of the carrying amount of goodwill over the fair values of recognized and unrecognized assets and liabilities of the reporting unit. An adjustment to goodwill will be recorded for any goodwill that is determined to be impaired. The Company tests goodwill for impairment at least annually in conjunction with preparation of its annual business plan, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate it might be impaired. ASU 2010-28 modifies Step 1 of the goodwill impairment test for reporting units with zero or negative carrying amounts.  For those reporting units, an entity is required to perform Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test if it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists.  In determining whether it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists, an entity should consider whether there are any adverse qualitative factors indicating that an impairment may exist.  The Company performed the annual assessment and has determined that no impairment is necessary during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Impairment of Long-lived Assets

The Company monitors the carrying value of long-lived assets for potential impairment and tests the recoverability of such assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. If a change in circumstance occurs, the Company performs a test of recoverability by comparing the carrying value of the asset or asset group to its undiscounted expected future cash flows. If cash flows cannot be separately and independently identified for a single asset, the Company will determine whether impairment has occurred for the group of assets for which the Company can identify the projected cash flows. If the carrying values are in excess of undiscounted expected future cash flows, the Company measures any impairment by comparing the fair value of the asset or asset group to its carrying value. The Company deemed there was no impairment of long-lived assets during the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost and consist of office furniture and equipment, computer hardware and software, and leasehold improvements. The Company computes depreciation and amortization under the straight-line method and typically over the following estimated useful lives of the related assets:

· Office furniture and equipment                            3 to 10 years

· Computer hardware and software                        3 to 5 years

Leasehold improvements are depreciated or amortized over the shorter of the term of the related lease or the estimated useful lives of the assets (generally 5 to 10 years). Major additions, improvements and renewals are capitalized at cost and ordinary repairs, maintenance, and renewals are expensed in the year incurred. Gains or losses from the sale or retirement of property and equipment result from the difference between sales proceeds (if any) and the assets’ net book value, and are recorded in the consolidated statements of operations.

Reclassifications

The Company has reclassified certain amounts from its previously reported consolidated financial statements for comparative purposes to conform to the fiscal 2013 presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on the Company’s previously reported consolidated operations or cash flows.

	Revenue		Research and Development			Other SG&A			Total
Revenues	$	20	$	—		$	—		$	20
Operating costs and expenses
Compensation and related expenses		—		335			713			1,048
Professional fees		—		329			1,292			1,621
Rent		—		—			164			164
Depreciation		—		—			64			64
Other selling, general and administrative		—		63			532			595
Total operating expenses		—		727			2,765			3,492
Loss from discontinued operations before taxes	$	20	$	(727	)	$	(2,765	)	$	(3,472	)

Income Taxes

The Company uses the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”). Under this method, income tax expense is recognized as the amount of: (i) taxes payable or refundable for the current year and (ii) deferred tax consequences of temporary difference resulting from matters that have been recognized in the Company’s financial statement or tax returns. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in the results of operations in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce the deferred tax assets reported if based on the weight of available evidence it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

Discontinued Operations

The operations of Spherix Consulting, Inc. were retroactively adjusted as discontinued operations as a result of the December 3, 2012 sale noted above.  The Spherix Consulting segment generated nearly all of the Company’s revenue and provided technical support for the Company’s Biospherics segment.

	For the Year Ended December 31, 2012
Revenues	$	728
Operating costs and expenses
Amortization of patents		-
Compensation and related expenses		1,450
Professional fees		160
Depreciation		4
Other selling, general and administrative		83
Total operating expenses		1,697
Loss from discontinued operations before taxes	$	(969	)

Net Loss Per Share

Basic loss per share is computed by dividing the net income or loss applicable to common shares by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period.  Diluted earnings per share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares and, if dilutive, potential common shares outstanding during the period.  Potential common shares consist of the incremental common shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options (using the treasury stock method) and the conversion of the Company’s convertible preferred stock and warrants (using the if-converted method).  Diluted loss per share excludes the shares issuable upon the conversion of preferred stock and the exercise of stock options and warrants from the calculation of net loss per share if their effect would be antidilutive.

Securities that could potentially dilute loss per share in the future that were not included in the computation of diluted loss per share at December 31, 2013 and 2012 are as follows:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2013		2012
Convertible preferred stock		20,010,352		1
Warrants to purchase common stock		65,263		550,664
Options to purchase common stock		2,013,876		7,163
Total		22,089,491		557,828

Stock-based Compensation

The Company accounts for share-based payment awards exchanged for employee services at the estimated grant date fair value of the award.  Stock options issued under the Company’s long-term incentive plans are granted with an exercise price equal to no less than the market price of the Company’s stock at the date of grant and expire up to ten years from the date of grant.  These options generally vest over a four- to ten-year period.

The fair value of stock options granted was determined on the grant date using assumptions for risk free interest rate, the expected term, expected volatility, and expected dividend yield.  The risk free interest rate is based on U.S. Treasury zero-coupon yield curve over the expected term of the option.  The expected term assumption is determined using the weighted average midpoint between vest and expiration for all individuals within the grant.  The expected volatility assumption is based on the standard deviation of the Company’s underlying stock price’s daily logarithmic returns.

The Company’s model includes a zero dividend yield assumption, as the Company has not historically paid nor does it anticipate paying dividends on its common stock.  The Company’s model does not include a discount for post-vesting restrictions, as the Company has not issued awards with such restrictions.

The periodic expense is then determined based on the valuation of the options, and at that time an estimated forfeiture rate is used to reduce the expense recorded.  The Company estimates of pre-vesting forfeitures is primarily based on the Company’s historical experience and is adjusted to reflect actual forfeitures as the options vest.

Stock-based compensation for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 was comprised of the following (in thousands):

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2013		2012
Employee restricted stock awards	$	6	$	-
Employee stock option awards		8,696		56
Non-employee restricted stock awards		937		-
Non-employee option awards		332		-
Total compensation expense	$	9,971	$	56

Treasury Stock

The Company accounts for the treasury stock using the cost method, which treats it as a reduction in stockholders’ equity.

Preferred Stock

The Company applies the accounting standards for distinguishing liabilities from equity when determining the classification and measurement of its preferred stock. Preferred shares subject to mandatory redemption are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable preferred shares (including preferred shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, preferred shares are classified as stockholders’ equity.

Research and Development Costs

Research and development costs are charged to operations as incurred.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective accounting pronouncements, if adopted, would have a significant effect to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.