BioNTech sued by University of Pennsylvania over COVID-19 vaccine patent royalties

The University of Pennsylvania has sued BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) accusing the German biotech of shortchanging royalties for university technology used in the manufacture of its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty.
The vaccine is marketed by BioNTech and Pfizer (PFE), though the latter is not named as a defendant.
BioNTech was granted a sublicense to use the technology related to messenger RNA (mRNA) created by two Nobel Prize-winning Penn professors.
The lawsuit argues that “BioNTech is paying royalties only for products sold into a country where Penn has a patent, but under the parties’ royalty agreement BioNTech has the obligation to pay a royalty if the patented product is made in a country where Penn has a patent, regardless of where the product is ultimately administered.”
In addition, the school says that BioNTech is making an inappropriate deduction for royalties to third parties. “But based on the incomplete royalty reports provided to date, BioNTech has never met the threshold necessary to avail itself to a reduction based on royalties paid to third parties.”
Penn is asking for a jury trial and damages.

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