USPTO ignites CRISPR/Cas9 patent battle
Scientists from two US universities will fight out the ownership of the intellectual property rights to the CRISPR/Cas9 technology after the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) agreed to initiate an interference proceeding.
The USPTO will decide whether the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard or the University of California is the rightful owner to the patent rights of the gene editing technology.
An interference proceeding is initiated when two parties file claims to ownership of an invention. Administrative Patent Judge Deborah Katz will preside over the dispute, which was initiated on January 11.
CRISPR/Cas9 technology comprises two parts: an RNA molecule that recognises and targets viruses and the protein element, which uses enzymes to cut through the DNA sequence.
The technology has the potential to be used to correct defective genetic sequences in humans and has its basis in naturally occurring bacterial immune systems in humans.
The University of California is the senior party, an advantageous position in an interference proceeding, because it is presumed to be the inventor of the technology. It filed a patent application covering the technology in May 2012 and is currently awaiting approval from the USPTO.
The Broad Institute has been designated as the junior party in the dispute, despite owning 12 patents covering the technology.
A telephone conference between the two parties and the USPTO is scheduled for March 9.
LSIPR has published several articles on the CRISPR patent dispute. You can see them below:
CRISPR: the shifting sands of patentability
