Fight Over Who Invented CRISPR Isn’t Done With Berkeley Patent

The battle between university powerhouses over who gets the credit for inventing the breakthrough gene-editing technology CRISPR could heat up again, according to a lawyer for the University of California at Berkeley.

Examiners with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have recommended a review, known as an interference, that would compare pending applications filed by the University of California at Berkeley and its partner the University of Vienna with patents issued to the Harvard University-affiliated Broad Institute, said Eldora Ellison of Sterne Kessler in Washington, one of the lawyers representing U.C. Berkeley on its patent issues.

The dispute is over ...