On September 28, 2022, the Patent Trial and Appeals Board suspended proceedings in Interference No. 106,126, between junior Party the Broad Institute, Harvard University and MIT (collectively, "Broad") and Senior Party ToolGen, and in Interference No. 106,127, between Junior Party the University of California, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, "CVC") and Senior Party ToolGen. On the same day, the Board had issued a Decision on Motions in each interference (to be discussed in another post), leaving only the priority phase to be contested between each pair of parties.
The basis for suspension was an acknowledgement that CVC and Broad had been involved in prior Interference No. 106,115 and that the decision in that interference was under consideration by the Federal Circuit on appeal. Recognizing that "the count in [each of] the current interference[s] is similar in the count in the '115 Interference and some issues raised and decided during the priority phase in the '115 Interference are similar," a decision by the Federal Circuit could "potentially impact[] a decision on priority in [each of these] interference[s]" (the language in each Order being identical, it has been altered here accordingly).
The Order suspends proceedings in each intereference "in the interest of not wasting resources" and states that "a schedule will not be issued before the decisions in the '115 Interference are final and the Federal Circuit has issued a mandate."
Stay tuned.
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