The Mainz-based biotechnology company Biontech and its American partner Pfizer have now been sued by competitor Moderna for patent infringement.

Moderna has filed parallel lawsuits in Massachusetts and Dusseldorf courts.

For Biontech, this is the second lawsuit within a short period of time.

The German competitor Curevac only filed a patent lawsuit against the company with similar allegations at the beginning of July.

Biontech and Pfizer initially did not comment on the new lawsuit on Friday.

However, Biontech has already vehemently rejected the patent allegations in the Curevac lawsuit.

"Biontech's work is original," it was said at the time.

Roland Lindner

Business correspondent in New York.

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The Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were the first two to be approved by regulators in the US and EU to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

They also became some of the most popular in Western developed countries, with Biontech and Pfizer clearly ahead of Moderna.

Moderna is now accusing the two competitors of violating patents that were filed between 2010 and 2016.

It was "groundbreaking technology" that was critical to the development of Moderna's vaccine.

"We believe Pfizer and Biontech unlawfully copied Moderna's inventions and have continued to use them without permission," said Moderna's chief counsel, Shannon Thyme Klinger.

Pfizer/Biontech and Moderna vaccines are based on mRNA technology,

Moderna is keen to note that the lawsuit is not seeking the removal of its competitors' coronavirus vaccine from the market.

Also, no compensation is expected for the sale of the vaccine in 92 poorer countries around the world.

Moderna promised in the early days of the pandemic that it would waive its patent protection entirely while the pandemic lasted.

In March of this year, the company slightly modified its promise.

Accordingly, it does not want to assert its patent protection even after the end of the pandemic, but only in the 92 poorer countries.

In other parts of the world, however, it wants to insist on its patent protection from now on.

Modified patent promise

As the company announced on Friday, it now wants to be compensated by Pfizer and Biontech for "the continued use" of its "patented technologies".

This should apply to all transactions after the patent promise was modified in March of this year.

Moderna said it would not seek compensation for vaccines paid for by the US government.

Moderna accuses Pfizer and Biontech of copying two "key features" of its technology.

Originally, the companies would have had four different vaccine candidates in clinical development, including options that would not have infringed any Moderna patents.

However, they would then have opted for a vaccine that would have had “the exact same mRNA chemical modification”.