Fraunhofer and IBio engaged in a battle of press releases in interpreting the meaning of a Delaware Chancery Court decision on intellectual property.
The biotechnology company and the German research organization ended up in court after severing ties.
The two entities had been cooperating in the use of plant-based vaccines, with iBio using Fraunhofer’s space at the Delaware Technology Park in Newark.
iBio went on to move its headquarters from Newark to New York and is part of a venture that operates a large-scale facility in Texas.
iBio was in the news during the Ebola epidemic when speculation over a vaccine led to a run-up in is stock price. Shares now trade for under 70 cents a share.
In its release, iBio stated the decision “ affirmed iBio’s exclusive ownership of all proprietary rights of any kind to technology in the area of plant-based technologies, techniques and methodologies, developed or acquired by Fraunhofer prior to or during the principal contractual period of iBio’s engagement of Fraunhofer, which began in 2004 and continued until the end of calendar 2014.”
The release went on to say the court found that iBio is the exclusive owner of all such property and is entitled to have a technology transfer and assignment of all such property without the conditions Fraunhofer sought to impose.
Fraunhofer’s release stated that the research organization “possesses a royalty-free license to conduct research using that technology in any field, including human vaccines, human antibodies, and human therapeutics, among other areas. Fraunhofer USA also possesses an exclusive worldwide license to commercialize that technology for applications outside of the defined iBio field.”
The release sent on to state that “Fraunhofer USA’s sole ownership of the technology and any improvements developed by Fraunhofer CMB after December 31, 2014, in any field.”
“While several key issues in the litigation remain unresolved following that ruling, Fraunhofer USA expects to resolve those issues, either through a mutual settlement agreement or completion of the litigation,” the Fraunhofer release concluded
The decision was the subject of a story in the News Journal that portrayed the decision as a big win for iBio.
