![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
17-09-2022, 12:18 PM
by Scott Berinato
September 16, 2022
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HBR: You’re not surprised by this lawsuit?
Loftus: This lawsuit is not a surprise to people who have followed the Covid-19 patent situation. As far back as 2020, patent lawyers and Wall Street analysts saw that Moderna had taken out patents covering its mRNA technology and the use of mRNA in vaccines, and that Moderna could someday cite them in a patent infringement lawsuit against Pfizer, and possibly others. It’s true that Moderna in 2020 pledged not to enforce its patents during the pandemic, but it modified that pledge in March 2022 to signal that it would begin enforcing its patents in higher-income countries including the U.S. That foreshadowed the lawsuit Moderna just filed against Pfizer.
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Pfizer’s defense is that its vaccine is based on its own proprietary research. Is that possible? Could two companies be developing products that are this similar without some sort of mixing of IP?
It is possible that it’s based on work mainly by Pfizer’s partner, BioNTech, since BioNTech also had been working on mRNA for several years. But if Moderna secured certain critical U.S. patents first, then it may have the upper hand from a legal perspective.
Much more better to read full interview here: https://hbr.org/2022/09/moderna-v-pfizer...or-biotech
September 16, 2022
......
HBR: You’re not surprised by this lawsuit?
Loftus: This lawsuit is not a surprise to people who have followed the Covid-19 patent situation. As far back as 2020, patent lawyers and Wall Street analysts saw that Moderna had taken out patents covering its mRNA technology and the use of mRNA in vaccines, and that Moderna could someday cite them in a patent infringement lawsuit against Pfizer, and possibly others. It’s true that Moderna in 2020 pledged not to enforce its patents during the pandemic, but it modified that pledge in March 2022 to signal that it would begin enforcing its patents in higher-income countries including the U.S. That foreshadowed the lawsuit Moderna just filed against Pfizer.
......
Pfizer’s defense is that its vaccine is based on its own proprietary research. Is that possible? Could two companies be developing products that are this similar without some sort of mixing of IP?
It is possible that it’s based on work mainly by Pfizer’s partner, BioNTech, since BioNTech also had been working on mRNA for several years. But if Moderna secured certain critical U.S. patents first, then it may have the upper hand from a legal perspective.
Much more better to read full interview here: https://hbr.org/2022/09/moderna-v-pfizer...or-biotech
