Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech for the company's COVID vaccine patents.
Pfizer and BioNTech developed the COVID vaccine, Comirnaty, which infringed on patents Moderna filed in 2010-2016 for mRNA technology.
Pfizer and BioNTech were accused of copying Moderna's technology by using their knowledge to produce Comirnaty.
"These lawsuits are for preserving our innovative, patented technology," CEO Stéphane Bancel said.
"This foundational platform, which we had been building in 2010, and our work on coronavirus in 2015 and 2016 allowed us to produce a safe and very effective COVID-19 vaccine at the start of the pandemic," he added.
"Moderna is using technology to develop a new generation of medicines that could treat or prevent illnesses like HIV and influenza."
In October 2020, Moderna promised not to enforce its COVID-related patents amid the pandemic. In March, they said they dropped this response amid the new phase of the pandemic.
The company announced that they would never enforce their patents in 92 middle- and low-income countries involved with Gavi.
But in other markets, Moderna looks for competitors to respect intellectual property rights.
Pfizer said they have not been served and were unable to comment. Moderna is filing a lawsuit against BioNTech and Pfizer, but there has been no response from either.