Skip to content
  • About
  • Services
    • Phone Interview
    • Initial Meeting
    • Invention Analysis
    • Plan of Action
    • Invention Design
    • 2D/3D Illustrations
    • Invention Engineering
    • Patent Protection
    • Market Research
    • Manufacturers Search
    • Invention Brochures
    • Licensing & Royalties
  • Submit
  • Benefits
  • Blog
  • Contact
Menu
  • About
  • Services
    • Phone Interview
    • Initial Meeting
    • Invention Analysis
    • Plan of Action
    • Invention Design
    • 2D/3D Illustrations
    • Invention Engineering
    • Patent Protection
    • Market Research
    • Manufacturers Search
    • Invention Brochures
    • Licensing & Royalties
  • Submit
  • Benefits
  • Blog
  • Contact

972-402-0000

Irving, Texas

  • About
  • Services
    • Phone Interview
    • Initial Meeting
    • Invention Analysis
    • Plan of Action
    • Invention Design
    • 2D/3D Illustrations
    • Invention Engineering
    • Patent Protection
    • Market Research
    • Manufacturers Search
    • Invention Brochures
    • Licensing & Royalties
  • Submit
  • Benefits
  • Blog
  • Contact
Menu
  • About
  • Services
    • Phone Interview
    • Initial Meeting
    • Invention Analysis
    • Plan of Action
    • Invention Design
    • 2D/3D Illustrations
    • Invention Engineering
    • Patent Protection
    • Market Research
    • Manufacturers Search
    • Invention Brochures
    • Licensing & Royalties
  • Submit
  • Benefits
  • Blog
  • Contact
Free Invention Analysis

Who Will Win the Bitter Battle Over Gene-Editing Tool?

  • January 19, 2016

There’s the Rose Bowl, the NCAA, the battle of the bands, but no college battle is as significant as the one that’s about to start over a patent for a genome-editing tool. At the crux of the battle is which team of scientists is actually the first to create the technology.

Preparing for Battle

The battle centers around a Crispr/Cas9 technique for cutting, pasting, disabling, or manipulating DNA inside the cells of living organisms. The technology could provide a cure for deadly diseases, modify crops to withstand climate conditions, or lead to other significant gene therapies.

Crispr is an abbreviation for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. Cas9 is a protein-9-nuclease. Together, Crispr/Cas9 is a prokaryotic immune system that provides resistance to certain bacteria and microorganisms and delivers a form of acquired immunity.

In play is the old U.S. law that grants intellectual property rights to the first to invent. However, on March 16, 2013, this law was replaced with a new one that grants patent rights based on the first to file. Most other countries use this same type of system.

The Competitors

As it stands right now, there are two patent filings from two different universities claiming to have invented the gene-editing technology.

In one corner is the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) team led by Jennifer Doudna. The team was the first to file a provisional patent to protect the Crispr technology. The filing date: March 15, 2013, one day before the new first to file rule went into effect. The patent application remains under review by the USPTO.

In the other corner is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Broad Institute team led by Feng Zhang. Although the team filed its patent application on October 15, 2013, the date the team claimed to have invented the technology is December 12, 2012.

The team’s patent attorneys paid to expedite the provisional application under the Petition to Make Special procedure. As a result, Zhang’s team was granted the Crispr/Cas9 gene-editing patent on April 15, 2014. More than a dozen additional patents on different forms of the technology were granted shortly afterwards.

The Battle’s Rules

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will conduct an interference proceeding, a legal process that will determine who created the invention first and therefore, owns the patent.

Similar to court hearings, the proceedings will consist of a three-judge panel. Oral arguments will be heard and evidence presented from laboratory notebooks and publications. Doudna and Zhang are allowed to testify, if they so choose, and argue their case as to why they were the first to discover the gene-editing technology.

Of particular note is the listing of the two parties on the USPTO interference announcement. Doudna’s team is listed as the senior party and Zhang’s team as the junior party, an initial indication that the administrative patent judge considers Doudna the first inventor.

Therefore, as with court cases, the burden of proof rests with Zhang. In addition, the proceedings will rule on all the patents Zhang was granted related to the genome-editing tool.

Attorneys for Doudna will argue that her team invented the method to use Crispr to edit DNA. However, the team tested the invention in a test tube, meaning it was not tested on human cells.

Zhang’s attorneys will argue that his team discovered Crispr’s specific use in cells that have a nucleus, or scientifically known as eukaryotic cells. In other words, the team got the technology to work on live cells.

After hearing arguments, the USPTO will decide who owns the rights for inventing the Crispr gene-editing technology. The judgment will determine who is allowed to use the technology and under what terms.

The Winnings

Whatever ruling the USPTO makes, it would be the million dollar decision because the technology is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The gene-editing technique discovery is being considered the biggest biotechnology advancement since the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology.

A start-up has already filed for a $100 million IPO on January 4, 2016, based on Zhang’s patents. Named Editas Medicine, the start-up is backed, among others, by Google Ventures and Bill Gates.

Editas Medicine holds the Zhang teams’ patent, giving it exclusive rights to Crispr and plans to apply the gene-editing technology to treat a rare form of blindness.

UC Berkeley also has several companies lined up to license its patent.

But no need to start counting those millions, yet. The proceedings could go on for at least eight months, so sit back and watch how this all-important battle over a key biotech breakthrough unfolds.

  • Patent Application, patent wars, Patents
Inventions
Tech

Latest Posts

New patent reveals Facebook is exploring a modular phone
New patent reveals Facebook is exploring a modular phone
Facebook is exploring new handheld gadget with interchangeable parts that could used like a smartphone or portable speaker, a new ...
Should the Patent and Trademark Office Be Allowed to Change Its Mind?
Should the Patent and Trademark Office Be Allowed to Change Its Mind?
A patent on one-click checkout? On a method for exercising a cat? On a lawn bag that looks like a ...
Provisional Patent Applications: To File or Not File
Provisional Patent Applications: To File or Not File
Since 1995, the United States has allowed patent applicants to file provisional applications as an alternative to filing non-provisional utility ...
Joint 3D scanning-3D printing device officially receives US patent
Joint 3D scanning-3D printing device officially receives US patent
Separate devices for 3D scanning and 3D printing could soon be a thing of the past, according to a new ...
Facebook seeks patent for payment system
Facebook seeks patent for payment system
Facebook has moved the country’s patent office seeking patent for its invention relating to a transactional payment system that allows ...
Practical Pointers for managing Patents
Practical Pointers for managing Patents
Adopting good house keeping practices is a prerequisite to efficient management of patents. To avoid costly mistakes while prosecuting and ...
Previous
Next
View all Posts

What's on Your Mind?

Submit your Idea for your Free
Patent Search Now.

FREE PATENT SEARCH
  • 972.402.0000
  • [email protected]

What's on Your Mind?

Submit your Idea for your Free
Patent Search Now.

FREE PATENT SEARCH
  • 972.402.0000
  • [email protected]

Give Us a Call

972.402.0000

Evaluate

  • Phone Interview
  • Initial Meeting
  • Invention Analysis
  • Plan of Action

Develop

  • Invention Design
  • 2D/3D Illustrations
  • Invention Engineering
  • Patent Protection

Launch

  • Market Research
  • Manufacturers Search
  • Invention Brochures
  • Licensing & Royalties

Address

6565 N.MacArthur Blvd, Irving, Texas 75039

Phone

972.402.0000

800.962.3032

972.402.0095

Email

[email protected]

Evaluate

  • Phone Interview
  • Office Meeting
  • Invention Analysis
  • Plan of Action

Develop

  • Invention Design
  • 2D/3D Illustrations
  • Invention Engineering
  • Patent Protection

Launch

  • Market Research
  • Manufacturers Search
  • Invention Brochures
  • Licensing & Royalties

Follow Us

Facebook-f Instagram Linkedin-in Pinterest-p Twitter
© 2022, Lonestar Patent Services, Inc.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Free Invention Analysis

×

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

This agreement keeps your idea safe between you and Lonestar Patent Services.

I understand that the product idea information I submit cannot be used, disclosed or sold without my express written permission. I also understand that all Lonestar Patent Services employees are required to sign an ethics and confidentiality agreement for my protection. I believe that I am the original inventor of the idea described herein. I authorize Lonestar Patent Services to review my idea and contact me in 3 to 5 business days with the results. I acknowledge that Lonestar Patent Services monitors and records telephone calls for quality assurance. I understand that Lonestar Patent Services does not promise any financial gain from the development of any new product idea.

By clicking the “submit” button below as my electronic signature, I expressly consent to being contacted about Lonestar Patent Services by phone call, auto-dialed phone call including prerecorded voice messages, text messages or email at any number or email address I provide. I understand that my consent is not a requirement for purchase of services.

Fee based service.