Contrary to the preliminary assessment, the patent in suit EP 1 857 122 B1 of the revocation defendant CureVac AG was declared invalid by the Federal Patent Court with effect for the Federal Republic of Germany.

The European patent EP 1 857 122 B1 granted in 2010 (patent in suit) is one of several fundamental patents from which the revocation defendant CureVac AG has sued the revocation plaintiff BioNTech SE. The patent relates to a system for genetic vaccination that overcomes the disadvantages associated with the properties of DNA vaccines and increases the efficacy of therapeutics based on RNA species (in particular vaccines).

However, according to its judgement of 19 December 2023 (3 Ni 23/22 (EP)), the patent in suit EP 1 857 122 B1 is not based on an inventive step in the opinion of the Federal Patent Court. The court's written judgement is not yet available. However, the revocation defendant has already announced that it will appeal against the judgement.