On June 4, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision in a patent infringement case involving mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, addressing whether the patentee’s “custom” definition of a term constituted infringement.
Ultimately, the CAFC upheld the district court’s ruling that the defendant, Moderna, did not infringe. The case stemmed from the fact that the plaintiff, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, had employed a self-defined interpretation of