論文の残滓

特許実務に関するあれこれ。

UCB v Broadのインターフェアレンス 第2段開始のお知らせ

CRISPR-Cas9の米国における基本特許について下記の投稿してから5ヶ月立ちました。

 

nannosono.hatenablog.com

が、6月24日のinterferenceが宣言され、再戦です。

 

news.berkeley.ed 

UCBの特許を追っかけていた人はクレームをガチンコで寄せていたので、うすうす気付いていたでしょうし、4月頃にリークされていましたね。

 

今回のinterferenceの対象の出願/特許は下記の通りです。

https://www.broadinstitute.org/files/news/pdfs/106115-NoticeDeclaringInterference.pdf

 

UCB出願(10出願)

US 15/947,680; US 15/947,700; US 15/947,718; US 15/981,807; US 15/981,808; US 15/981,809; US 16/136,159; US 16/136,165; US 16/136,168; and US 16/136,175.

 

Broad出願/特許(13特許、1出願)

8,697,359; 8,771,945; 8,795,965; 8,865,406; 8,871,445; 8,889,356; 8,895,308; 8,906,616; 8,932,814; 8,945,839; 8,993,233; 8,999,641; 9,840,713; 

14/704,551

 

今回のinterferenceでは、下記がカウントとして設定されています。

 

UCB application(15/981,807)

Claim 156:

A eukaryotic cell comprising

              a target DNA molecule and an engineeredand/or non-naturally occurring Type II Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short PalindromicRepeats (CRISPR)-—CRISPR associated (Cas) (CRISPR-Cas) system comprising

  1. a) a Cas9 protein, or a nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding said Cas9protein; and
  2. b) a single molecule DNA-targeting RNA, or a nucleic acid comprising a nucleotidesequence encoding said single molecule DNA-targeting RNA; wherein the single molecule DNA-targeting RNA comprises:
  3. i) a targeter-RNA that is capable of hybridizing with a target sequence in the targetDNA molecule, and
  4. ii) an activator-RNA that is capable of hybridizing with the targeter-RNA to form adouble-stranded RNA duplex of a protein-binding segment,

              wherein the activator-RNA and the targeter-RNA are covalently linked to one another with intervening nucleotides; and

              wherein the single molecule DNA-targeting RNA is capable of forming a complex with the Cas9 protein, thereby targeting the Cas9 protein to the target DNA molecule,whereby said system is capable of cleaving or editing the target DNA molecule or modulatingtranscription of at least one gene encoded by the target DNA molecule.

 

Broad patnet (8,697,359)

Claim 18:

An engineered, programmable, non-naturally occurring Type II CRISPR-Cas system comprising

              a Cas9 protein and

              at least one guide RNA that targets and hybridizes to a target sequence of a DNA molecule in a eukaryotic cell,

              wherein the DNA molecule encodes and the eukaryotic cell expresses at least one gene product and the Cas9 protein cleaves the DNA molecules, whereby expression of the at least one gene product is altered; and,

              wherein the Cas9 protein and the guide RNA do not naturally occur together,

              wherein the guide RNAs comprise a guide sequence fused to a tracr sequence.

 

そして、カウントの対象となる各出願/特許のクレームは下記の通りです。要は、ほぼ全部ですね。

 

UCB出願

15/947,680:Claims 156-185

15/947,700:Claims 156-185

15/947,718:Claims 156-185

15/981,807:Claims 156-185

15/981,808:Claims 156-170, 172-185

15/981,809:Claims 156-170, 172-185

16/136,159:Claims 156-184

16/136,165:Claims 156-184

16/136,168:Claims 156-184

16/136,175:Claims 156-184

 

Broad特許

8,697,359:Claims 1-20

8,771,945:Claims 1-29

8,795,965:Claims 1-30

8,865,406:Claims 1-30

8,871,445:Claims 1-30

8,889,356:Claims 1-30

8,895,308:Claims 1-30

8,906,616:Claims 1-30

8,932,814:Claims 1-30

8,945,839:Claims 1-28

8,993,233:Claims 1-43

8,999,641:Claims 1-28

9,840,713:Claims 1-41

14/704,551:Claims 2, 4-18

 

前回は、抵触判断ではじかれ、先発明の判断まで至りませんでしたが、今回のクレームはかなり近しいクレームとなっているため、先発明の判断も行われる可能性が高そうです。

さてさてどうなるやら。