USPTO examiner recommends CRISPR interference

A patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recommended the office's Patent Trial and Appeals Board conduct an interference proceeding in the ongoing dispute over ownership of IP covering gene editing technology CRISPR/ Cas9 ( CRISPR-associated protein 9). The examiner issued the recommendation for patent application 13/842,859, which lists Emmanuelle Charpentier, formerly at the University of Vienna, and the University of California Berkeley's Jennifer Doudna as inventors.

A complex IP landscape surrounds the discovery of CRISPR/Cas9. Two separate groups have filed patents, published papers and founded companies based on their respective claims to inventorship. ...