Discovery of the revolutionary gene editing technology called
CRISPR touched off a battle between the University of California
(UC) and the Broad Institute (Broad) over control of the associated
patent rights. The technology evolved out of research findings that
the CRISPR-Cas 9 immune system of prokaryotes (e.g., bacteria)
could be harnessed as a gene editing tool with widespread potential
commercial applications in the fields of medicine and
agriculture.
UC and Broad both filed initial patent applications prior to the
effective date of the prior art provisions of the AIA, making their
applications subject to pre-AIA law regarding priority of
invention. One year ago, on January 11, and at the suggestion of
UC, the PTAB declared an interference between UC's pending
patent application and a series of patents issued to Broad covering
CRISPR technology (interference no. 106,048). UC filed its initial
patent application first and also published a preliminary
