U.S. Patent Agency to Review Harvard, MIT’s Claim to CRISPR Technology

WSAU reports, “The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday said it would review whether Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can claim rights to a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, adding fuel to a rivalry between those institutions and the University of California.

The patent office said it would conduct a so-called interference proceeding to determine who first invented CRISPR genome editing in plant and animal cells, a revolutionary, billion-dollar technology.”

Referencing client The University of California, Berkeley, Director Eldora L. Ellison, Ph.D. is quoted in the coverage saying, “The initiation of this interference proceeding highlights that previous decisions involving the (Broad Institute) did not determine who was the first to invent this technology, and it lays out a pathway for resolving this important issue.”