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1 June 2021AmericasAlex Baldwin

UC Berkeley auctions Nobel Prize invention materials as NFTs

A non-fungible token (NFT) for a Nobel Prize-winning cancer immunotherapy invention has been minted ahead of an auction tomorrow arranged by the University of California, Berkeley.

NFTs are unique data assets stored on a digital ledger (or blockchain) that typically represent artwork, music or even patents.

This NFT represents patent disclosures “at the heart of the invention”, according to the university. Bidders will be buying the right to online digitised documents, which include internal forms and correspondence outlining the initial research findings.

UC Berkeley will continue to own the relevant patents for the invention by James Allison, which is based on blocking CTLA-4 receptors on immune T-cells to help fight cancer.

The university minted the NFT for Allison’s cancer immunotherapy invention on May 27 ahead of a 24-hour auction on June 2, which will take place on NFT-auction platform Foundation using Ethereum cryptocurrency as payment.

Rich Lyons, UC Berkeley’s chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer, said: “Someone might ask, ‘Why would I want a digital version of some internal university form?... There are people who recognise and care about symbols of great science, and even if they never intend to resell the NFT, they want to own it and they want resources to go back to Berkeley, where the basic research behind these Nobel Prizes came from, to support further research.”

Terms of the sale will see UC Berkeley receive 85% of the auction price, with 15% going to the Foundation. The university is also entitled to 10% of the proceeds from subsequent sales and Foundation 5%.

Second sale

Alongside this announcement, UC Berkeley also announced that it will be minting a second NFT of patent disclosures—this time for CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology, co-invented by Berkely alumni Jennifer Doudna.

The invention was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 and was co-created by Doudna and Max Planck professor Emmanuelle Charpentier.

Speaking to  WIPR  last month, IPwe chief executive Erich Spangenberg explained how he believed the tokenisation of IP will help patents to be more easily sold, traded, commercialised, and financed.

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