Table of Contents Research and Development We plan to continue to devote substantial resources to research and development with the objective of developing new products and systems and increasing the value or reducing the cost of existing products and systems. Our research and development roadmap identifies new product features and defines improvement targets for existing products that enhance the benefit of our energy management solutions to our customers and support our growth plans. We measure the effectiveness of our research and development using metrics that include product cost, performance and reliability, homeowner and installer experience, as well as development cost and performance to schedule. Intellectual Property We operate in an industry in which innovation, investment in new ideas and protection of our intellectual property rights are critical for success. We protect our technology through a variety of means, including through patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets laws in the United States and similar laws in other countries, confidentiality agreements and other contractual arrangements. As of December 31, 2023, we have approximately 401 global patents and 264 pending patent applications. Our patents are expiring on an ongoing basis between the present and 2044, but there is not a material portion of our patent portfolio expiring in the near future. We have licensed certain technologies for application in hardware and software in our products. Such licenses are generally fully-paid, royalty-free licenses. Given the volume and pace of new patents worldwide, it may become necessary in the future to license intellectual property on terms that are yet unknown to us, and that may be less favorable than licenses in the past. In addition, we license open source software from various third parties for use in hardware and software. Such open source software is licensed under open source licenses, and we take efforts to maintain compliance with such licenses. We continually assess the need for patent protection for those aspects of our technology that we believe provide significant competitive advantages. A majority of our patents relate to DC to AC power conversion, energy storage devices and related energy environments. With respect to proprietary know-how that is not patentable and processes for which patents are difficult to enforce, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to safeguard our interests. We believe that many elements of our microinverter and storage manufacturing processes involve proprietary know-how, technology or data that are not covered by patents or patent applications, including technical processes, test equipment designs, algorithms and procedures. We own or have rights to various trademarks and service marks in the United States and in other countries, including Enphase, the Enphase “e”, IQ, and many other marks. We rely on both registration of our marks as well as common law protection where available. All of our research and development personnel have entered into confidentiality and proprietary information agreements with us. These agreements address intellectual property protection and require our employees to assign to us all of the inventions, designs and technologies they develop during the course of employment with us. We also require our customers and business partners to enter into confidentiality agreements before we disclose any sensitive aspects of our technology or business plans. As part of our overall strategy to protect our intellectual property, we may take legal actions to prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our intellectual property or from otherwise gaining access to our technology. Enphase Energy, Inc. | 2023 Form 10-K | 13