Patenting dynamics in CRISPR gene editing technologies

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) is an example of a very fundamental discovery that has in a very short time span moved to a spectrum of inventions related to gene editing that has major implications in therapeutics, industrial biotechnology, crop engineering, foods, and in the development of a variety of tools for manipulating a broad range of living organisms. The Patent landscape for the foundational features of CRISPR from 2012 to the present date is shared by a few research groups who are working with fairly closely looped partners for the commercialization of the evolving technologies. The patent interference proceedings, litigations, and the complex licensing arrangements between the various players illustrate the complexly woven fabric and dynamically changing strategic matrices of the techno-legal aspects of “commercial-partnering” to make the CRISPR technologies available in the market place with appropriate and adequate “freedom to operate”. New models of licensing and knowledge sharing are evolving to unknot the technology ownership including the overlapping patent claims intricacies associated with CRISPR. Regulatory and ethical challenges further cloud the paths to commercialization of these technologies. The trajectory of the inventions and technology development, patenting, knowledge sharing, intellectual property transactions, translational research among competing collaborators, regulatory models, and laws related to CRISPR will continue to test human ingenuity working for social good. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 including the intense on-going patent battles are testimony to the significance of the evolving editing techniques involving CRISPR genes.