Monsanto Sues COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturers, Alleging Copyright Infringement

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Bayer and its Monsanto division are suing COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, alleging they used technology Monsanto developed and patented in the 1980s in their vaccines.

Bayer said in lawsuits that Pfizer, its partner BioNTech, and Moderna wrongly used technology Monsanto developed and used to make plants resistant to insects.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna included the technology in their shots to enhance the stability of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) “and thus the vaccines’ ability to confer immunity to the virus,” lawyers for Bayer and Monsanto said in the suits, which were filed on Jan. 6 with the U.S. court in Delaware.

Bayer was not involved in COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing or production.

Bayer said it was not seeking to interfere with the production of the COVID-19 vaccines, which are still being made and sold, but said the court should award it money, describing the defendants as having “profited handsomely from infringing vaccine sales worldwide.”

“Plaintiffs are entitled to damages as a result of Defendants’ infringement of the … Patent in an amount yet to be determined and adequate to compensate Plaintiffs for Defendants’ infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the patented invention by Defendants, together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court,” with the exception of acts of infringement covered by one federal law, the filings state.

Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna earned billions of dollars from their vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to company reports. Pfizer, for example, reported making $11.2 billion in 2023 from its shot.

“BioNTech is aware that Bayer and Monsanto have filed an action for infringement with respect to one patent against Pfizer and BioNTech,” a spokesperson for BioNTech told The Epoch Times in an email. The company declined further comment.

“Moderna is aware of the litigation and will defend ourselves against these claims,” a spokesman for Moderna told The Epoch Times via email.

Pfizer did not return an inquiry.

In a third lawsuit, lodged in federal court in New Jersey, Bayer said Johnson & Johnson also infringed on a patent with its COVID-19 vaccine, which did not utilize mRNA.

That complaint said Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which delivered DNA to a recipient’s cells to trigger protection, would not have been effective without the patented sequence and template that Bayer developed and patented.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was withdrawn from the market in 2023. Johnson & Johnson did not respond to a request for comment.

The new complaints are the latest over the COVID-19 vaccines. Other suits have involved Pfizer and Moderna, including a suit brought by Moderna against Pfizer.

A court in England ruled in 2024 that Pfizer infringed on a Moderna patent.