Coby Nixon Quoted in Bloomberg Law

Moderna Vaccine Patent Deal Sets Up High-Stakes Immunity Appeal

By: Christopher Yasiejko

“The contingent payment “effectively prices the risk” of Moderna’s government-contractor defense while preserving a live dispute for Federal Circuit review, said Coby Nixon, chair of Buchalter’s litigation practice group in Atlanta. That structure matters because federal courts generally won’t decide purely theoretical questions once a case is settled. By tying another $1.3 billion to the appeal’s outcome, the companies ensure the court still has a “real controversy” to resolve, Nixon said.”

“Deals structured around appellate outcomes are “relatively uncommon, especially in patent litigation,” and typically involve modest adjustments rather than “billion-dollar pricing mechanisms,” he said.”

“The Federal Circuit’s interpretation of Section 1498 “could matter beyond this case for both sides, and others,” Nixon added, potentially shaping how the government-contractor defense applies to companies working on other federally funded or emergency programs.”

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