Nature mentioned and quoted Partner Katherine Rubino in “Broad defeats Berkeley CRISPR patent,” which discusses the recent win by MIT’s Broad Institute over a drawn out dispute over the inventorship of CRISPR patents.

Nature Excerpt:

Then in 2019 the Appeals Board reopened the dispute, declaring a second interference (106,115) around the use of the technology in eukaryotic cells. This was in response to patent applications made by CVC that required the appeals board to determine the original inventor of the technology.

Although the latest ruling maintains CVC’s original patents for uses in vitro and in prokaryotes, the University of California said in a press release that it “is disappointed by the PTAB’s decision and believes the PTAB made a number of errors.” CVC is likely to challenge this decision, possibly through the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or the District Court for Washington, DC, according to Katie Rubino, a lawyer with Caldwell Intellectual Property Law. It will be an uphill battle, however, says Rubino, because the USPTO decision has already met the standard of “substantial evidence” that is required to prevail in an appeal.

Companies commercializing CRISPR–Cas9 products, particularly those licensing University of California patents, such as CRISPR Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics, will likely be affected by the Broad ruling. Intellia’s stock tumbled 21%, despite releasing promising data on its lead drug candidate that same day. Intellia is a biotech company based on CRISPR gene editing IP from Doudna’s group. In a written statement, Intellia says the decision will not impact its ongoing research and development plans: “We are carefully reviewing the decision and are confident CVC will find a path forward to affirm their IP rights, including the possibility of an appeal to the Federal Circuit.”

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Nature Biotechnology is a monthly journal covering the science and business of biotechnology. It publishes new concepts in technology/methodology of relevance to the biological, biomedical, agricultural and environmental sciences as well as covers the commercial, political, ethical, legal, and societal aspects of this research.