CRISPR专利战还没结束？不只在法庭内的波涛汹涌

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(Summary description)在CRISPR-Cas9这项革命性基因编辑技术的专利战中，由哈佛大学与麻省理工大学共同创立的布洛德研究所(BroadInstituteofMITandHarvard)在今年2月获得一大胜利。经过裁决，法官们把将此技术运用于哺乳类细胞及疾病新疗法研发的专利判给了张锋(FengZhang)及他任职的布洛德研究所。对他们的对手加州大学柏克莱分校生化学家珍妮弗‧杜德纳(JenniferDoudna)来说，

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CRISPR专利战还没结束？不只在法庭内的波涛汹涌

Categories:最新消息
Author:
Origin:
Time of issue:2017-07-14 01:49
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Information

　　在CRISPR-Cas9这项革命性基因编辑技术的专利战中，由哈佛大学与麻省理工大学共同创立的布洛德研究所(Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard)在今年2月获得一大胜利。经过裁决，法官们把将此技术运用于哺乳类细胞及疾病新疗法研发的专利判给了张锋(Feng Zhang)及他任职的布洛德研究所。对他们的对手加州大学柏克莱分校生化学家珍妮弗‧杜德纳(Jennifer Doudna)来说，这无疑是个坏消息。杜德纳最早发现如何运用CRISPR技术来编辑DNA，但却不是直接在活细胞中进行。2012年杜德纳与卡彭蒂耶 (Emmanuelle Charpentier)首先发表说明他们发明了一种能在试管内进行简单而精确的基因编辑技术，但紧接着在2013年1月张锋研究团队发表的论文中，他们运用同样的技术但是是在植物、动物以及人类细胞中进行研究。

　　双方的研究在申请专利时引发了广大的争论，到底谁才应该得到将CRISPR运用于植物以及动物细胞的专利?是首先发明这套技术的杜德纳，还是将这项技术真正运用到生物系统内，让这个技术在人类基因治疗、基因改造作物以及动物基因修改，让这项技术的价值大大提升的张锋?虽然加州大学杜德纳以及合作的卡彭蒂耶研究团队较早对CRISPR技术提出专利申请，但较晚提出申请的布洛德研究选择了快速追踪审核程序加速申请程序，以确保己方专利较早通过申请。布洛德研究所所提出的申请特别强调了在包含任何类型的动物等真核细胞使用CRISPR-Cas9进行基因编辑的技术，而加州大学一方所提出的申请则是包含不限定在真核或原核细胞中使用这项技术。

　　由于没有研究者能够百分之百肯定当时杜德纳的研究也能在人类细胞等真核细胞内运用，因此美国专利及商标局于 2 月 16 日判定布洛德研究所提出的 CRISPR-Cas9 基因编辑技术，与加州大学所提出的专利申请并不冲突，张锋可以继续拥有他的专利。这项判决并没有取消或拒绝布洛德研究所或加州大学其中任何一方的专利申请。判决结果对这些公司所造成的实质影响或许没有如股价变动的那么大，加州大学杜德纳一方可能在不久之后就能够获得比布洛德研究所所拥有的专利范围还要更广泛的专利权。法律界人士对判决结果的解释是双方所申请的专利有明显差异，双方的专利申请并不冲突也不重叠。判决结果认定布洛德研究所能保留所申请的专利，而加州大学正在进行的专利申请，则是送回了一开始负责的专利审查员手上。

　　争议影响科学界

　　在专利判决出炉之后，杜德纳试图以正面的说法解释判决结果，她指出虽然张锋拥有将 CRISPR 运用于细胞实验中的专利，但自己仍会因为是最早发明 CRISPR 的团队而拥有这项专利。杜德纳先前对判决结果的解读认为他们仍然是 CRISPR 的专利拥有者，表示他们可能打算让其他想要使用 CRISPR 技术的研究者都必须向他们取得授权，包含在哺乳类细胞中的运用也是如此。若是如此，这将继续掀起法庭论战，双方的律师团队也会继续忙碌。有人认为，在专利战中张锋之所以小胜一筹，是因为布洛德研究所付费向美国专利及商标局申请快速追踪审核(fast track review)。但张锋的研究成果和杜德纳一方相比已十分具有革命性，所以这并非必要的程序。

　　判决结果将冲击新创公司

　　总之不论如何，有关专利争议的事件，首当其冲的仍旧是产业界，分别由卡彭蒂耶与杜德纳实验室所创办的 CRISPR Therapeutics、Intellia Therapeutic，以及经由卡彭蒂耶与杜德纳拥有的专利授权的小型生技公司 Caribou Biosciences、ERS Genomics 等。其中，在判决公布当天，Intellia Therapeutic 与 CRISPR Therapeutics 的股价下跌了将近 10%，反观张锋专利所授权的公司 Editas Medicine 的股价则是在消息公布后一下子上升了将近 30%。对最直接与 CRISPR 相关的这 3 家新创公司来说，专利冲突的判决结果所造成的影响巨大。

　　有分析师认为之后的结果可能结果是 CRISPR Therapeutics 及 Intellia Therapeutics 与 Editas Medicine 需要互相授权一些技术。由于专利冲突的处理程序已经得到结果，加州大学所提出的专利申请将再次回到正常的审查程序，交由专利审查员处理。先前审查员已经将加州大学提出的申请认定为可行，加州大学方面也相信他们有很大的机会通过申请，得到将 CRISPR 运用在任何细胞的专利。在冲突判决之后，加州大学也对外表示，对接下来他们的申请能很快获得审核通过抱持乐观态度。这样的结果看似冲突，加州大学拥有运用于所有细胞的技术专利，而布洛德研究所拥有运用于真核细胞的专利。如果最终是这样的结果，之后想要使用 CRISPR 技术的企业很可能必须向双方都取得授权才能进行。布洛德研究所表示，他们认为 CRISPR 应该要一直被世界各地的科学研究中所用，帮助人们提升生物学领域所知知识，以及发展人类疾病治疗技术。同时他们也表示，CRISPR 技术将会继续提供给全球学术界无偿使用，但以该技术相关应用营利的企业则需要付费获取授权才得使用。

　　新闻来源:http://technews.tw/2017/03/02/patent-office-hands-win-in-crispr-battle-to-broad-institute/

　　本新闻经华讯团队重新编辑整理并添加分析意见。

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Electronic Arts pledges free use for five accessibility patents

Electronic Arts pledges free use for five accessibility patents Recently, Electronic Arts (EA) announced a patent pledge that gives other companies and developers free access to five of its current accessibility-related patents and technology. The company promised not to enforce against any party for infringing any of the listed patents. Instead, EA hopes to encourage “innovation” and build new features that make video games more inclusive on a much larger scale by opening up the patents. Electronic Arts (EA) is an American video game company founded in 1982. The company owns many popular and famous games, such as The Sims, SimCity, Apex Legends, Madden NFL and FIFA. Each of the games has more than 30 or 50 million sales volume. Significantly, esports involves FIFA and Apex Legends into the event list. Apex Legends has up to 1 billion players, and it is so popular that it has a Switch version. Within the freely available patents, one of which grabs everyone’s attention -- Apex Legends’ ping system (patent No. US 11097189). The ping system in Apex Legends, which excellently allows players to make communication and teamwork quick and easy without hearing or speaking, has been praised both as an impressive alternative to voice chat and as a great accessibility feature for players with a variety of disabilities. The other patents include the technology widely used in the FIFA and Madden NFL. The innovations can automatically detect and modify colors (patent No. US 10118097 and CN 107694092) and contrast ratios (patent No. US 10878540) to improve gamers’ visibility with colorblindness and low vision. Furthermore, one of the patents relates to personalized sound technology, helping players with hearing issues by modifying or creating music based on their preferences (patent No. US 10790919). The code of the mentioned technology is published on EA’s GitHub, and it is open to all developers. Thus, the developers can use it or adapt it for their games without spending the costs to research. It is good that EA shares the patents for free use and aims to create an accessibility-increased gaming environment for players. However, it is not “unconditional” to use the listed patents. In the pledge, EA mentioned that it may terminate the promise for a specific party which files a patent infringement lawsuit or other patent proceedings against EA. We can see parts of EV’s ambition behind the announcement—to build a large game developer league and a community of shared interests. Reference: https://www.ea.com/commitments/positive-play/accessibility-patent-pledge https://iknow.stpi.narl.org.tw/Post/Read.aspx?PostID=14562 https://www.polygon.com/22639469/apex-legends-electronic-arts-patent-pledge-accessibility-developers https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/24/22638535/ea-accessibility-patent-pledge-apex-legends-ping-system https://www.gamesradar.com/ea-secures-a-patent-for-the-apex-legends-ping-system-and-its-giving-it-away-for-free/ https://dotesports.com/apex-legends/news/apex-legends-ping-system-is-now-patent-free-for-accessibility https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/08/apex_legends_ping_system_now_patent-free_as_ea_announces_accessibility_pledge Recently, Electronic Arts (EA) announced a patent pledge that gives other companies and developers free access to five of its current accessibility-related patents and technology. The company promised not to enforce against any party for infringing any of the listed patents. Instead, EA hopes to encourage “innovation” and build new features that make video games more inclusive on a much larger scale by opening up the patents. Electronic Arts (EA) is an American video game company founded in 1982. The company owns many popular and famous games, such as The Sims, SimCity, Apex Legends, Madden NFL and FIFA. Each of the games has more than 30 or 50 million sales volume. Significantly, esports involves FIFA and Apex Legends into the event list. Apex Legends has up to 1 billion players, and it is so popular that it has a Switch version. Within the freely available patents, one of which grabs everyone’s attention -- Apex Legends’ ping system (patent No. US 11097189). The ping system in Apex Legends, which excellently allows players to make communication and teamwork quick and easy without hearing or speaking, has been praised both as an impressive alternative to voice chat and as a great accessibility feature for players with a variety of disabilities. The other patents include the technology widely used in the FIFA and Madden NFL. The innovations can automatically detect and modify colors (patent No. US 10118097 and CN 107694092) and contrast ratios (patent No. US 10878540) to improve gamers’ visibility with colorblindness and low vision. Furthermore, one of the patents relates to personalized sound technology, helping players with hearing issues by modifying or creating music based on their preferences (patent No. US 10790919). The

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The forum on "China's Intellectual Property-related Reform Measures and New Trends in Patent Litigation" will be held successfully!

The forum on "China's Intellectual Property-related Reform Measures and New Trends in Patent Litigation" will be held successfully! In response to the call for building a strong country with intellectual property rights, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of October 21, the forum on "China's reform measures related to intellectual property rights and new trends in patent litigation" will be successfully held in Nanjing Jiangbei New District Industrial Technology Research and Innovation Park. The event was hosted by the Science and Technology Innovation Bureau of Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Management Committee, Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Industrial Technology Research and Innovation Park, Nanjing Intellectual Property Rights Protection Assistance Center Jiangbei New District Center, Nanjing Huaxun Intellectual Property Consultant Co., Ltd., Nanjing Intellectual Property Co-organized by the Protection Center (Nanjing Intellectual Property Rights Protection Assistance Center), Taiwan Pharmaceutical Development Association, and Gene Online. The director of Nanjing Intellectual Property Protection Center, Mou Xiaojian, delivered a speech. Director Mu expressed his warm congratulations on the holding of this event and introduced in detail the new pattern of intellectual property protection in Nanjing. He said: At present, Nanjing has implemented a rights protection assistance network in the municipal area. With full coverage, Nanjing Intellectual Property Protection Center is willing to closely communicate and interact with Nanjing's innovation entities, and provide relevant public welfare services such as rapid pre-review, rapid rights protection, and comprehensive utilization for enterprises in need. In addition, Huang Funan, CEO of Gene Online, was unable to come to congratulate due to the epidemic, and recorded a congratulatory video. In the video, he said: China Innovative Pharmaceuticals has already made many outstanding achievements on the international stage, and these are inseparable from intellectual property rights. The support of the company can also show the importance of intellectual property rights to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. This event invites four industry experts to focus on China's reform measures related to intellectual property rights and new trends in patent litigation, discuss with companies and universities, and make arrangements in advance. Dr. Qingchen Hou, general manager of Nanjing Huaxun Intellectual Property Consulting Co., Ltd., introduced the "Guidelines for Building a Powerful Country with Intellectual Property Rights (2021-2035)" and explained his views from four aspects: background, strategic layout, overall requirements, and organizational guarantees. . Subsequently, a detailed analysis of China's patent linkage system was carried out, and compared with the same types of cases at home and abroad, questions were raised: Why should we reward the first person who successfully challenged patents? Not the first person to file a P4 application? And have a series of discussions with you. Director Jiang Haijun of the Intellectual Property Protection Legal Committee of the Nanjing Lawyers Association gave a speech on three points: the problems after the amendment of the patent law, the enforceability of the amount of compensation, and the legal conflicts related to service inventions. Regarding the patent right evaluation report, he emphasized that the patentee, interested party or accused infringer can also proactively issue a patent right evaluation report. "Patent is a work of art that combines technology and law" is a message shared by Mr. Feng Tao from Jiangsu Junbo Law Firm at this event. Mr. Feng analyzes the big data of Chinese patent litigation cases through graphs and examples. Explore. The last topic of the event was shared by Guo Huangying, Intellectual Property Manager of Nanjing Huaxun Intellectual Property Agency (General Partnership)-China's Patent Infringement Judgment Principles and New Developments. Manager Guo explained to everyone the principles of patent infringement judgment and the necessity of patent infringement search and analysis before producing and selling products. In the intellectual property industry, ECCOM has been providing high-quality and professional comprehensive intellectual property services to enterprises and universities one step at a time. It also hopes that under the leadership of the state and the government, it will contribute to the building of a strong intellectual property nation in China. Make a contribution.

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Types of patents that are easily overlooked- Design Patent

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Colopl Settles Patent Infringement Lawsuit with Nintendo by Paying $30 Million

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