UC, Berkeley files brief in CRISPR Federal Circuit case

The University of California (UC), Berkeley has  filed a brief at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its appeal against a patent decision on the CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a gene-editing technique that can target and modify DNA with high accuracy.

UC, Berkeley filed the brief on Tuesday, July 25, in the appeal against the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) ruling in favour of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

The Broad Institute and UC, Berkeley appeared in front of three judges at the PTAB in December last year after UC, Berkeley requested a patent interference proceeding.

In the proceeding, the Broad Institute requested priority based on its patent application filed on December 12, 2012.

The judges set the definition of the disputed invention as “the use of CRISPR in a method in a eukaryotic cell”.

According to the PTAB’s decision, the Broad Institute provided sufficient evidence to show that its claims, which are all limited to CRISPR/Cas9 systems in a eukaryotic environment, do not interfere with UC, Berkeley’s claims, which are not restricted to any environment.

The PTAB handed down its final decision on February 15.

UC, Berkeley appealed to the Federal Circuit together with the University of Vienna and Jennifer Doudna of UC, Berkeley.

In the brief, UC, Berkeley asked the court to determine whether the PTAB committed error in “ignoring overwhelming evidence” that the Broad Institute’s claims are obvious in light of UC, Berkeley’s.

UC, Berkeley said: “The PTAB’s ruling flies in the face of core legal principles that govern the interference-in-fact inquiry, and defies common sense.”

It added: “This court should not let such a profoundly erroneous and unjust result stand.”

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