Berkeley to get its CRISPR patent

The University of California, Berkeley, will soon get its long-sought CRISPR gene-editing patent. Berkeley’s patent application was tied up in court for years while the university argued that approved CRISPR patents held by Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard interfered with its patent application, which was submitted first. In September 2018, a US federal court declared that the two parties’ patents didn’t interfere. Now, documents from the US Patent and Trademark Office indicate Berkeley’s pending patent will be issued soon. It’s unclear what will happen next, but companies wishing to use CRISPR will likely need licenses from both parties.