Moderna loses US government license defense in patent case

In a major update, a Delaware federal judge has rejected Moderna’s argument that a US government license stemming from federally funded research protects the company against Northwestern University’s patent infringement claims regarding government vaccine procurement.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Campbell Barker said that the relevant law does not create a civil defence for non-government parties like Moderna.

The court did not rule on Northwestern’s infringement allegations or several of Moderna’s other defenses including its argument that Northwestern must take legal action against the federal government over COVID-19 shots that Moderna sold to the government.

Evanston Illinois-based Northwestern, primarily filed the lawsuit in 2024 Moderna misused its lipid nanoparticle technology used in vaccines. Nonetheless, this case is part of an ongoing intellectual property battle involving Moderna, Pfizer and others over the LNP technology used in COVID-19 shots to transport messenger mRNA used to treat infections rather than prevent disease.

Furthermore, Northwestern stated its researchers spearheaded the use of LMPs to deliver mRNA into human cells in 2009 and 2010.