CRISPR-Cas9
CRISPR-Cas9 is a method for genome editing, also known as molecular scissors.[1]
The technology is subject to competing patent applications across jurisdictions, mostly filed by two competing teams around UC Berkeley and the Broad Institute around 2012. As of 2021, with legal proceedings still ongoing, one team held patents in the USA and another in the EU, so there wasn't a single known licensed implementation of the technology.[1]
As of 2023, the case Regents of the University of California v. Broad Institute, Inc. (22-1594) was still ongoing at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Relationship to software patents
The patents were complicated to assess for a number of reasons. One reason is possibly that they were very broad, encompassing software methods.
Broader consequences
CRISPR can be used for various purposes, including advanced medical procedures (e.g. for cancer treatment) and to accelerate the creation of plant varieties. Such genomic "innovation" is often a convenient excuse for multinational oligopolists to gain an intellectual monopoly on certain pre-existing agricultural and medical practices, taking them away from indigenous populations.[2][3]
Such issues can typically only be addressed by higher level reform of WIPO/TRIPS treaties, as pointed out by KEI: IGC 42: KEI statement on access and benefit sharing in relation to IP and genetic resources. However, international trade agreements tend to attempt to make things even worse, for example by superseding existing protections in USA law: in 2010, with KEI notes on the EU leak of the ACTA text, James Love noted that "ACTA as an attack on liability rules":
A “liability rule” regime for intellectual property rights is one where an infringement is deliberately allowed, in cases where some type of “reasonable” or “adequate” compensation or remuneration is available. This is explicitly allowed in Article 44.2 of the TRIPS. One important example of such a liability rule regime in U.S. law is 28 USC 1498, concerning uses of patents, copyrights or plant breeder rights by or for the federal government.
CRISPR patents highlight the need of a broad alliance for WIPO reform, as demanded by the Towards a "World Intellectual Wealth Organisation": Supporting the Geneva Declaration statement.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Felicia Lozon and Vincent M. de Grandpré, Making sense of the battle for the CRISPR-Cas9 patent rights, 2021.
- ↑ Marin Scotten, "Laying claim to nature's work": plant patents sow fear among small growers, 2024.
- ↑ Indigenous Maize: Who Owns the Rights to Mexico’s ‘Wonder’ Plant?, 2019.
