There were two reasons that the POET Board granted options prospectively:

1.  To allow market "seasoning" of the financial information released on March 25, the day after the Board meeting; and

2.  To ensure that unvested options scheduled to return to the pool as a result of forfeiture were actually present.

Any suggestion or allegation that the POET Board was manipulating the timing to find a better price is both incorrect and discourteous.  We endeavor always to both follow the governance rules that we have established and to avoid any appearance that we are doing otherwise.