University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is immune from claims that it terminated a patent agreement for cancer-treating technology just so it could sell the patents to a competitor.
Immunity protects the governmental entity from breach of contract and constitutional taking—and nothing about the center’s actions expressly waived it, the Court of Appeals, Fifteenth District, said Thursday.
“The undisputed allegations and the jurisdictional evidence show that MD Anderson acted under color of contract in terminating Gensetix’s licensing agreement,” Justice Scott Field wrote for the unanimous court. “Under these circumstances, MD Anderson could not have had the requisite intent to ...