Appeals court upholds decision on key CRISPR patents

A federal appeals court has struck another blow against the University of California in a fierce legal fight with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard over key CRISPR patents. Here’s what you need to know:

The background: In February 2017, the U.S. patent office ruledthat the Broad's 2014 patent on editing animal and plant cell genomes with CRISPR-Cas9 didn’t “interfere” with UC's patent application on using CRISPR-Cas9 to edit DNA in a test tube. UC appealed that decision.
The appeals court decision: The court ruled unanimously that the patent office correctly concluded that the Broad’s patents didn’t “interfere” with UC’s patent applications.
The next steps: Unless there’s an appeal to the Supreme Court — which likely wouldn’t take the case — the legal saga is largely over in the U.S. There’s still a CRISPR patent battle playing out in Europe.