The revolutionary genome-editing technology CRISPR case started in January 2016, when the US patent office granted the University California’s an “interference” proceeding to investigate whether the CRISPR-Cas9 patent application the University California filed, but not issued, in May 2012 claimed the same invention as the patent awarded to the Broad in April 2014.
The outcome of this case has been eagerly awaited because if the use of CRISPR to treat genetic disorders lives up to scientists hopes it is expected to be a multibillion-dollar business.
The US patent office recently ruled that ownership of the CRISPR-Cas9 belong to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board decided that key CRISPR patents awarded to the Broad beginning in 2014 are sufficiently different from patents applied for by the University of California. The University of California is now expected to appeal.
Source: https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/15/crispr-patent-ruling/?mc_cid=97d74af47e&mc_eid=41591d1e66
