On August 26, Moderna issued a press release announcing it will be filing suit against Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement. Both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech sell Covid-19 vaccines that is based upon mRNA technology. Moderna is accusing Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, Comrinaty®, of infringing Moderna’s patents covering certain features of Moderna’s mRNA technology. (At the time of publishing this post, Moderna’s complaint had not yet been filed. Once the complaint is filed, I will update the post.)
Read MoreIt’s rare that patents make the mainstream news, and even more rare that one company’s allegation of patent infringement touches—even remotely—on issues of national security. Yet, that appears to be happening with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s proposed legislation to block Huawei from seeking relief for infringement of its granted U.S. patents. There isn’t really much precedent for legislating that a certain set of patents are unenforceable. Can this really happen?
Read MoreToday, the Federal Circuit issued an important precedential decision for induced infringement. The case, Enplas Display Device Corp. v. Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Case No. 2016-2599 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 19, 2018), indicates that defendants that manufacture and sell components abroad cannot so easily evade induced infringement by claiming ignorance that their products end up within the U.S. market.
Read MoreIn June of this year, the Supreme Court issued a decision in WesternGeco LLC v. Ion Geophysical Corp. On its face, the case had minimal potential impact because it was limited to a more rarified form of infringement. Now, however, the District Court in the long-running dispute between Power Integrations and Fairchild Semiconductor has suggested WesternGeco could justify taxing foreign sales for other forms of infringement of a United States patent. And the Court has also kicked this question up to the Federal Circuit to decide. Will damages for infringing a U.S. patent soon reach foreign sales?
Read MoreIn 2016, MorphoSys ($MOR) sued Janssen ($JNJ) and Genmab for patent infringement. MorphoSys claims that Janssen’s anti-CD38 antibody, Darzalex®, infringes three of its patents. The case is scheduled to go to trial in February 2019. The stakes are big because the patents purport to cover the actual protein used in Darzalex®, which could mean material royalty rates on sales of Janssen’s drug. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each party’s case?
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