Precision BioSciences, Inc., a leader in the field of genome engineering, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has issued a first, non-final Office Action in the reexamination proceedings for U.S. Pat. No. 7,897,372 ("the '372 patent") that is owned by Cellectis SA. Importantly, this Office Action rejected every claim of the '372 patent as being anticipated by or obvious in view of prior art. Cellectis is afforded the opportunity to respond the PTO's rejection of the claims of the '372 patent. Cellectis has alleged that Precision is infringing the '372 patent in a lawsuit brought against Precision in March 2011.
This is not the first time that Cellectis has attempted to allege patent infringement against Precision using patent claims that were later rejected in reexamination proceedings by the PTO. In March of 2008, Cellectis asserted two in-licensed patents against Precision. The patents asserted by Cellectis in that case were subsequently re-examined by the PTO at Precision's request, and all claims asserted against Precision were rejected. Following the PTO's rejections of the claims on reexamination, the court in the 2008 case granted Precision's request to stay that litigation pending the final outcome of the reexamination proceedings and exhaustion of appeals. Precision has similarly requested a stay of Cellectis's new lawsuit under the '372 patent in light of that patent's reexamination by the PTO.
"We are very pleased with the PTO's rejection of the claims of the '372 patent," stated Derek Jantz, Precision BioSciences' VP of Scientific Development. "We have always believed that the '372 patent was a blatant attempt by Cellectis to patent material that was obvious in light of the discoveries made by other scientists."
Jeff Smith, CSO of Precision BioSciences, further stated: "This decision by the PTO, coupled with the recent and pending issuance of several Precision patents, reflects what we believe is Precision's dominant intellectual property position in the field of engineered meganucleases."
About Precision BioSciences
Precision BioSciences' mission is to continually provide, improve, and enable the world's most powerful genome engineering technology. Precision's proprietary Directed Nuclease EditorTM (DNE) technology enables the production of genome editing enzymes that can insert, remove, modify, and regulate essentially any gene in mammalian or plant cells.
Precision BioSciences' vision is to be the conduit through which the world's greatest genome engineering challenges are solved. Precision has successfully utilized its DNE technology to create innovative products in partnerships with many of the world's largest biopharmaceutical, agbiotech, and animal research firms. Internally, Precision is developing applications of DNE in biological production and human therapeutics. For additional information, please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.
Contacts:
Precision BioSciences
Chelsea Lynam, +1 919-314-5512
chelsea.lynam@precisionbiosciences.com
