US panel says CRISPR priority determination by Patent Board needs a second look
By Melissa Ritti ( May 12, 2025, 20:02 GMT | Insight) -- In interference proceedings over CRISPR gene editing technology, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board must revisit their findings that The Broad Institute — a research consortium for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the President and Fellows of Harvard College — has priority over the Regents of the University of California, the University of Vienna and inventor Emmanuelle Charpentier. Writing for the court, US Circuit Judge Jimmie V. Reyna said the board legally erred in holding that because the breakthrough touted by Regents resulted from “extensive or undue” experimentation, replication by a person of skill in the art was unlikely. Along the way, the panel said, the board disregarded key evidence that only routine techniques were necessary for Regents' scientists to achieve a reduction to practice.The Patent Trial and Appeal Board applied the wrong standard for conception when finding The Broad Institute enjoys priority to an invention covering a gene editing system containing a “single-guide” ribonucleic acid that edits or cleaves DNA in eukaryotic cells, a US appeals court said....
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