Dublin, Ireland
May 13, 2025
- U.S. Court of Appeals rules that the PTAB applied the wrong legal standard for conception in the CRISPR-Cas9 interference dispute with the Broad Institute.
- Decision sent back to the PTAB for reconsideration under the correct legal standard for assessing the inventor of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in eukaryotic cells.
ERS Genomics Limited (‘ERS’), the CRISPR licensing Company, today announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has been ordered to reconsider its 2022 interference decision that scientists at the Broad Institute in Boston invented CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in eukaryotic cells. Following an earlier ruling in which the PTAB awarded priority to the Broad Institute, this decision follows a successful appeal by the University of California, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, CVC) that the correct legal standard had not been applied.
As a result of this, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. has instructed the PTAB to re-evaluate the prior decision and apply the correct legal standard for determining the true inventor of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in eukaryotic cells.
The court concluded that “We vacate the Board’s determination as to conception and remand for further proceedings. On remand, we instruct the Board to reconsider the issue of conception in a manner consistent with this opinion.”
Michael Arciero, General Counsel and Head of Intellectual Property, ERS Genomics, commented: “ERS Genomics is pleased that the Federal Circuit has ordered the PTAB to reconsider its 2022 decision. Our attention is now focused on ensuring the PTAB applies the correct legal standard to determine the origin of this revolutionary technology.”
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing is a revolutionary technique for manipulating DNA invented by CVC with sufficient specificity for others to use it without excessive experimentation, for which its inventors Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize. The completeness of the Doudna/Charpentier conception was evident as five separate research groups, including CVC and the Broad, achieved eukaryotic editing within five months of the seminal 2012 Science paper’s publication1.
John E. Milad, CEO, ERS Genomics, commented: “ERS Genomics has always stood firm in its belief that Professors Charpentier and Doudna were the original minds behind CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology for all cell types, including eukaryotic cells. This latest ruling is a welcome course correction and gets us closer to a fair reckoning of the facts. At ERS, our mission remains unchanged: to make this Nobel-winning technology accessible so researchers can build, discover and innovate with confidence and clarity.”
To democratise access to the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, Charpentier has licensed the technology through ERS Genomics for all fields except human gene and cell therapy, and CRISPR Therapeutics for human gene and cell therapy. The University of California provided an exclusive license of the technology to Caribou Biosciences, Inc., of Berkeley, California.
ERS Genomics provides licensing to the Nobel Prize winning CRISPR/Cas9 technology for companies interested in pursuing its use in their internal research and commercial programs. Comprising 100+ patents globally, ERS’ portfolio encompasses CRISPR/Cas9 usage in all cells, including eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells such as mammalian cells, bacteria, archaea, yeasts, algae, and insects. ERS Genomics licenses these patents via its direct license from Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier and now has nearly 150 licenses in place worldwide.
References:
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1225829
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