Insights

New York – January 27, 2022: Crowell & Moring secured a significant victory - a preliminary injunction against patent infringement through trial - on behalf of Lonza Walkersville, Inc., against Adva Biotechnology Ltd. in a case involving point-of-care cell-therapy technology.

New York – October 4, 2019: In October 2018, plaintiff Waters Corporation filed for a preliminary injunction against Crowell & Moring’s client, Agilent, for it to cease selling InstantPCTM reagent, which is used during the development of biopharmaceuticals or biologics. Oral arguments were held last December. On Friday, September 20, 2019, the District of Delaware denied Waters’ motion for a preliminary injunction. 

On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) handed down the latest decision in the COVID vaccine proceedings between Pfizer Inc. (“Pfizer”) and BioNTech SE (“BioNTech”) and ModernaTX, Inc. (“Moderna”). The PTAB found all challenged claims unpatentable in two patents held by Moderna related to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine technology: U.S. Patent Nos. 10,702,600 (the “’600 patent”) and 10,933,127 (the “’127 patent”), both entitled “Betacoronavirus mRNA Vaccine.”

On February 28, 2025, the USPTO announced that it was rescinding a 2022 memorandum issued by former USPTO Director Kathi Vidal, entitled “Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation,” which had curtailed discretionary denials of PTAB post-grant proceedings. The February 2025 announcement directs parties to refer to PTAB precedent for guidance, including the decisions in Apple Inc. v. Fintiv, Inc., IPR2020-00019, Paper 11 (PTAB Mar. 20, 2020) and Sotera Wireless, Inc. v. Masimo Corp., IPR2020-01019, Paper 12 (PTAB Dec. 1, 2020). The announcement further indicates that, to the extent any PTAB or Director Review decisions relied on the 2022 memorandum, the portions of those decisions shall not be binding or persuasive on the PTAB.

The Federal Circuit’s decision in University of South Florida Board of Trustees v. United States, 22-2248 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 9, 2024) hints at the broad scope of the federal government’s license rights under the Bayh-Dole Act.