Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Licensing Agreement

DTI has entered into licensing agreements with RCA Trademark Management for the licensing rights to the respective trademarks in the United States of America and Canada.

The RCA licensing agreement was amended with Technicolor, S.A., as licensor and expires December 31, 2024. DTI agreed to pay a royalty fee of 2.5% on net sales of the licensed products with a minimum annual payment of $420,000 for the years ended 2020 and 2021, $440,000 for the year ended 2022, $460,000 for the year ended 2023, and $480,000 for the year ended 2024.

Warranty Service Agreement

DTI entered into a warranty service agreement to provide certain warranty services for a lighting supplier through December 31, 2024, except for one class of customer, for whom services will be provided through 2030. In exchange for these services, DTI receives annual payments as follows:

Years Ending March 31,


2023	$	66,626
2024		59,964
Total	$	126,590

Royalty Agreement

On November 28, 2021, the Company entered into a Royalty Agreement with the sellers of ElecJet. In the Royalty Agreement, the Company noted that upon closing of the merger with ElecJet, the Company desired to build its initial factory (“Factory”) to manufacture batteries in the United States. The Company agreed to pay the sellers 1.5% of net sales for batteries produced by the Factory. Royalty payments shall continue to be paid for a period of ten years from the starting date, or until the total of the royalty payments equals $50 million, whichever occurs first.

Legal Proceedings

From time to time, the Company may become involved in lawsuits and other legal proceedings that arise in the course of business. Litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and it is not possible to predict the outcome of litigation with total confidence. As of the date of this Report, the Company was not aware of any legal proceedings or potential claims against it whose outcome would be likely, individually or in the aggregate, to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, operating results, or cash flows, except as set forth below.

In June 2020, the Company’s subsidiary Excel Fabrication, LLC filed a lawsuit against Fusion Mechanical, LLC, in the Fifth Judicial District Court, State of Idaho (Case Number CV42-20-2246). The Company claimed tortious interference and trade secret violations by the defendant. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss, which was denied by the Court. As of the date of this Report, discovery was proceeding. The defendant filed a second motion to dismiss and the Company filed a memorandum in response to the second motion to dismiss, for which a hearing was held on May 10, 2021. On June 11, 2021, the court issued a decision narrowing the claims of the plaintiffs to three items: breach of contract, good faith and fair dealings and intentional interference for economic advantage. These were the Company’s three main points of contention. As of the date of this Report, trial is set for Spring 2023.

In August 2020, the Company filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court, District of Arizona (Case No.2:20-cv-01679-DJH), against Alan Martin, the seller of Horizon Well Testing LLC (“HWT”) dba Venture West Energy Services, LLC. The Company brought claims for breach of contract, including but not limited to breaches of the seller’s representations and warranties in the purchase agreement in connection with the acquisition of HWT. The defendant answered and counterclaimed, claiming breach by the Company of its obligation to issue a promissory note (to be issued in connection with the acquisition of HWT). As of the date of this Report, the discovery period had ended but no trial date had been scheduled. A summary judgement motion was filed on December 22, 2021, which was pending as of the date of this Report.

In May 2021, the Company and several shareholders filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona (Case number 2:21-cv-00886-MTL) against Fin Capital LLC ("Fin Cap"), and Grizzly Research LLC ("Grizzly") alleging securities fraud, tortious interference with business expectancy and libel slander for disseminating false and misleading statements about Alpine 4 and its employees to manipulate the stock price and further their own financial interests. As of the date of this Report Fin Capital and Grizzly Research LLC filed motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The Court has denied Fin Capital’s motion to dismiss and accepted Grizzly Research motion, however the Court granted the Company until May 12th to file a modification of its complaint order. The Company has filed its response and anticipates the Court to move to dismiss Grizzly Research’s motion to dismiss but the date of such dismissal is unknown as of the date of this report.

In August of 2021 Rob Porter filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Oklahoma Country State of Oklahoma CJ-2021-3421 alleging Unjust Enrichment and Breach of Contract for Class B Shares. In October 2021 the Company responded with its answer denying such claims. In October 2021 the Company also filed a counter claims against Mr. Porter for conversion and breach of fiduciary duties. The Company believes this is a frivolous lawsuit.

In October 2021 the Company received three complaints in the District Court of Oklahoma Country State of Oklahoma from former VWES employees Bruce Morse CJ-2021-4316, Brian Hobbs CJ-2021-4315, Thomas Karraker CJ-2021-4314 for Unjust Enrichment, and Breach of Contract. On January 19, 2022, the Company filed a response that denied these claims and believes these are frivolous lawsuits.