In connection with the enforcement of voxeljet’s intellectual property rights, the acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights, or disputes related to the validity or alleged infringement of the Company’s or a third party’s intellectual property rights, including patent rights, voxeljet has been and may in the future be subject or party to claims, negotiations or complex, protracted litigation.

In March 2018, ExOne GmbH, a subsidiary of The ExOne Company, notified voxeljet of its intent not to pay its annual license fees under an existing intellectual property-related agreement and asserted its rights to claim damages pursuant to an alleged material breach of the agreement. At this time, the Company cannot reasonably estimate a contingency, if any, related to this matter. On November 12, 2021, The ExOne Company and its affiliates were acquired by DESKTOP METAL, INC.

voxeljet AG issued letters of support to voxeljet’s subsidiaries voxeljet China and voxeljet America to provide financial support to enable the subsidiaries to meet their obligation or liabilities as and when they fall due. The guarantee is irrecoverable for at least 12 months from the date of financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2021, are signed. Further, voxeljet AG issued a letter of support to voxeljet India on July 12, 2022, to provide financial support to enable the subsidiary to meet its obligation or liabilities as and when they fall due. The guarantee is irrecoverable for at least 12 months from date of issue of this letter.

Management assessed that it is unlikely that the subsidiaries would exercise these letters of support.

12. Settlement of SEC investigation

On July 1, 2022, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘SEC’) in full resolution of a cease-and-desist order issued by the SEC related to the Company’s reporting during two quarters in 2019 of our compliance with the Finance Contract and the state of our internal accounting controls. The Company self-reported and shared facts developed in our internal investigation, and fully cooperated with the SEC in connection with the settlement. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations (other than with respect to the SEC’s jurisdiction and the subject matter of the proceedings), the Company agreed to the entry of the order pursuant to which (i) the Company and Mr. Rudolf Franz, our Chief Financial Officer, agreed to pay a penalty of $175,000 and $50,000, respectively, to the SEC; (ii) the Company will cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of the reporting standards of Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Rules 12b-20 and 13a-16 thereunder; and (iii) the Company will undertake to complete, fully implement, and test our remediation plan.

13. Related party transactions

Transactions with Franz Industriebeteiligungen AG comprise the rental of office space in Augsburg, Germany. Rental expenses amounted to kEUR 2 in each of the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and September 30, 2021.

Further, voxeljet acquired goods amounting to kEUR 0 and kEUR 0 in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and September 30, 2021, respectively from ‘Schlosserei und Metallbau Ederer’, which is owned by the brother of Dr. Ingo Ederer, the Chief Executive Officer of voxeljet.

Moreover, voxeljet received orders amounting to kEUR 174 and kEUR 77 in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and September 30, 2021, respectively from Suzhou Meimai Fast Manufacturing Technology Co. ('Meimai’), Ltd., which was our minority shareholder for voxeljet China until September 1, 2021. On this date, Meimai transferred half of its equity interest in voxeljet China, or 15.00% of voxeljet China’s equity, to its shareholder MK Holding GmbH and the remaining half of its equity interest, or 15.00% of voxeljet China’s equity to its shareholder Mr. Jin Tianshi, the managing director of voxeljet China. As a result, as of September 1, 2021, Meimai is no longer a related party. After the capital increase for voxeljet China by voxeljet AG, effective on June 28, 2022, voxeljet AG’s shareholding increased from 70.00% to 88.52%, while each of MK Holding GmbH’s and Mr. Jin Tianshi’s shareholding decreased from 15.00% to 5.74%.

Further, voxeljet received orders amounting to kEUR 0 and kEUR 0 in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and September 30, 2021, respectively from ‘DSCS Digital Supply Chain Solutions GmbH’, which is an associated company of which the Company owns 33.3%. Shareholders of DSCS have initiated the wind-up of DSCS, which will be finalized by DSCS’s removal from the commercial register, expected to take place in the first quarter of 2023.

In addition, voxeljet employed Michele Neuber as an intern between July 2019 and March 2022. Michele Neuber is the son of Volker Neuber, who has been a member of voxeljet’s supervisory board since July 2020. He received a salary of kEUR 1 and kEUR 1 in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and September 30, 2021, respectively.