CRISPR Patent Fight Between UC Berkeley, Broad Flares Up as USPTO Initiates New Interference

GenomeWeb writes, “The United States Patent and Trademark Office yesterday initiated a new patent interference in the CRISPR patent battle between the Broad Institute and the University of California, Berkeley.

The proceeding — which was started by the USPTO rather than one of the parties — involves 13 patents issued to the Broad in 2014, 2015, and 2017, and 10 patent applications filed by UC Berkeley in 2018, all on the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to edit eukaryotic genomes.”

Referencing client The University of California, Berkeley, Director Eldora L. Ellison, Ph.D. is quoted in the coverage, “The initiation of this interference proceeding highlights that previous decisions involving the Broad did not determine who was the first to invent this technology, and it lays out a pathway for resolving this important issue. We are confident that the USPTO will ultimately recognize that the Doudna and Charpentier team hold the priority of invention specific to eukaryotic cells, as well as other settings covered by previous patents.”