San Francisco Business Times
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the patent claims by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) on three broad patents relating to embryonic stem cells, according to the consumer group that brought a challenge to the patents.
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Public Patent Foundation challenged the so-called WARF patents in July. The two groups said they brought the challenge because the three WARF patents were “impeding scientific progress and driving vital stem cell research overseas.”
The two groups challenging the patents argued that the work done by University of Wisconsin researcher James Thomson to isolate stem cell lines was obvious in the light of previous scientific research, making his work unpatentable. To receive a patent, something must be new, useful and non-obvious. The Patent and Trademark office agreed with the groups in a decision issued March 30, but received today.
WARF has two months to respond to the ruling and seek to change it.
“This is a great day for scientific research,” said John Simpson, stem cell project director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “Given the facts, this is the only conclusion the PTO could have reached. The patents should never have been issued in the first place.”
Representatives of WARF were not immediately available for comment.
