The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) handed down its decision today that there is no interference-in-fact between several patents and patent applications owned by The Broad Institute and applications owned by the Regents of the University of California, Berkeley. This decision ends the interference without any prejudice to any of the claims corresponding to the interference count. Accordingly, both parties will be able to license (and assert) their patents to any third party.
The basis for the PTAB's decision is contained in a paper (#893) entitled Decision on Motions. That paper is not yet available on the PRAB website. We will post on this decision when it becomes available.
For additional information regarding this topic, please see:
• "Guest Post -- The Patient Side of the CRISPR Patent Battle," December 19, 2016
• "CRISPR Interference Motions Set," March 23, 2016
• "CRISPR Interference Declared," January 28, 2016
