CRISPR patent

The patent on CRISPR has been the fulcrum off a decade-long legal fight after the Broad Institute, a research center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, snatched rights to the most important uses of the gene-editing tool in 2014.   Broad’s patent claims have been opposed by the University of California, Berkeley, which says researchers Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier are the tool’s true inventors. The pair won a Nobel Prize in 2020 for their work on the technology. An exclusive license to the Broad Institute patent…

And really, what’s the point of such a hard-won triumph unless it’s to enforce your rights? “Honestly, this train has been coming down the track since at least 2014, if not earlier. We’re at the collision point. I struggle to imagine there’s going to be a diversion,” says Sherkow. “Brace for impact.” The Broad Institute didn’t answer any of my questions, and a spokesperson for MIT didn’t even reply to my email. That’s not a surprise. Private universities can be exceedingly obtuse when it comes to acknowledging their…