New movement by Moderna in regards to the patent of Covid-19 vaccines
Moderna is one of the most searched pharmaceutical companies in the entire world in the recent 3 years. However, it is not just because of the company’s remarkable achievement in the creation of the Covid-19 vaccines but also because of the patent lawsuit between Moderna and the United States in particular and in the entire world in general.
As we have already known, back when the Covid-19 pandemic just broke out of control in the United States, Moderna and Pfizer are one of the fastest pharmaceutical companies to create a Covid-19 vaccine and have got a patent for these vaccines as proof of protection for their hard work.
As the pandemic got worse, the United States and other world organizations have requested that Moderna exempts some of its patent rights in order to mass-produce vaccines to distribute worldwide, saving the lives of billions of people.
However, Moderna hang on tight to its rights and refused, again and again, the request, stating all kinds of reasons, from the efforts and money that they have invested into making the vaccine as well as the statement that even the exemption of Covid-19 vaccine patent won’t help the situation in reality, etc.
The IP battle lasts for, what many countries feel like, centuries, have met another twist in the road on May 6, 2022.
New movement by Moderna in the patent battle of Covid-19 vaccines
In the battle between Moderna and the United States government, in May, Moderna has attempted to make another unexpected move – trying to shift the blame, responsibilities, and liabilities to the US government.
In their request to dismiss the litigation against them particularly made by other pharmaceutical companies such as Arbutus Biopharma Corp and Genevant Sciences GmbH, Moderna doesn’t even try to defend that no infringements occurred as what would have been expected by most people but instead, try to claim that the US government should be the respondent. A statement from the company read:
“Under Federal law, claims against U.S. Government-contracted suppliers must proceed against the Government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. This law provides important statutory protection for authorized government suppliers and played a critical role in encouraging companies, including Moderna, to step up and help the Government fight the COVID-19 pandemic.”
If true, this statement would seem to imply that the plaintiff companies in the vaccine lawsuit cannot receive the royalties they seek from Moderna. This means that even if a patent infringement action did occur (made by Moderna), the company will receive protection as a government contractor. As their only American purchaser is the US government, their claim may have some weight.
With the statement of the current respondent that is Moderna, the court will have to carefully review the case and decide whether or not Moderna should actually be the correct respondent in the patent infringement lawsuits.
Nonetheless, in the end, this is just a strange move by Moderna as this country has repeatedly confirmed that the court’s decision on the respondent’s matter won’t have an impact on the final outcome as this company strongly believes that they have committed no act of infringement to any protected patent.
***Other Articles***
– You could check Required documents of filing trademark in USA here.
– You could see What needs to be done after registering a trademark in US? here.
– You could visit here to see What is use in commerce of filing trademark in USA.
– You could also check here to see Procedure of Trademark in USA.
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