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.

Washington, D.C. – January 9, 2017: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce that it has elected six lawyers to the firm's partnership, effective January 1, 2017. The firm has also promoted 19 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm's Washington, D.C., New York, Orange County, and Los Angeles offices and underscore the firm's commitment to its Antitrust, Commercial Litigation, Environment & Natural Resources, Government Contracts, Health Care, International Trade, and White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement practices.

On March 13, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision about Patent Term Extensions (PTEs) under the Hatch-Waxman Act for reissue patents. In Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. v. Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc. (No. 2023-2254), the Court confirmed that the PTE provision under 35 U.S.C. § 156 refers to the original patent’s issue date, not the reissue patent’s issue date. Thus, the issue date of the original patent should be used when calculating the extension period.

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.