Moderna Covid Vaccine Tech Patents Must Face Validity Review

BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. convinced a US Patent and Trademark Office administrative tribunal to review the validity of two Moderna Inc. patents related to producing mRNA vaccines like those for Covid-19.

BioNTech and Pfizer sufficiently demonstrated that the agency overlooked relevant previous inventions when granting Moderna’s US Patent Nos. 10,702,600 and 10,933,127 covering betacoronavirus mRNA vaccines, according to two Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions made public Tuesday.

Moderna accused BioNTech and Pfizer in August 2022 of infringing the technology to develop their monovalent Covid-19 vaccines in a US District Court for the District of Massachusetts lawsuit. The defendants ...