The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard said today they have joined discussions to create a nonexclusive CRISPR/Cas9 joint licensing pool being coordinated by MPEG LA, which operates patent pool licensing programs across institutions and countries.

The patent pool would facilitate the licensing of patents covering CRISPRwhich stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeatsby creating a one-stop shop for commercial users without forcing licensees to pursue agreements with several entities, the Broad said.

The Broad disclosed today that it responded June 28, two days before the deadline set in April by MPEG LA, a provider of one-stop licenses for standards and other technology platforms. MPEG LA requested submissions by CRISPR/Cas9 patent holders to join in creating a global joint licensing platform related to the technology.

The Broad submitted for evaluation 22 patents13 U.S. patents and 10 European patentscontained within 10 patent families. That submission, the Broad said, was also being made on behalf of joint patent owners Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The Rockefeller University.

We strongly support making CRISPR technology broadly available, Issi Rozen, CBO of the Broad Institute, said in a statement. We look forward to working with others to ensure the widest possible access to all key CRISPR intellectual property.

The Broad says it joins with MIT, Harvard, and Rockefeller to make CRISPR tools freely available to the academic and nonprofit communities and issue nonexclusive licenses for most types of commercial research, including agriculture. The exception is human therapeutics, where the Broad limits exclusivity through its Inclusive Innovation model, which offers one licensee exclusive use for a defined two-year period, followed by an open call for applications by other groups. The two-year exclusive period has already ended for CRISPR applications.

According to the Institute, the patents it submitted for discussion include not only those related to CRISPR/Cas9, but more broadly relevant CRISPR patents and application related to the technology.

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Broad Institute Joins CRISPR Patent Pool Talks | GEN - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (blog)

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