CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a revolutionary gene-editing technology adapted from a bacterial immune system that allows scientists to make precise changes to DNA, like cutting, adding, or removing genetic material, offering immense potential for treating genetic diseases (e.g., sickle cell), developing diagnostics, and engineering organisms.  Ownership of this crucial technology means billions of dollars in revenue.  So, of course, there has been and continues to be a war over patent priority, that has been waged for over a decade by four separate groups of purported inventors, and at present there is no end in sight.

In particular, Broad Institute, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (collectively, "Broad") and The University of California/Berkeley, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, "CVC"), are currently back before the PTAB after the Federal Circuit vacated an earlier decision in Broad’s favor in a second interference between them.

The two other parties, ToolGen (a Korean company) and Sigma-Adrich each have separate pending interferences against Broad and CVC, with a possible further interferences between ToolGen and Sigma.

In addition to this history the talk will consider the arguments and relative strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ positions and the consequences should any of the parties ultimately be awarded priority.