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The emerging patent landscape of CRISPR–Cas gene editing technology

Nature Biotechnology volume 34, pages 1025–1031 (2016)Cite this article

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Early views on the control of the CRISPR–Cas disruptive enabling technology and access for follow-on commercial applications.

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Figure 1: CRISPR–Cas scientific and regulatory milestones (upper strand) as well as milestones in patenting activity (lower strand).
Figure 2: The number of CRISPR–Cas9 inventions, as represented by patent families, by year of original priority filing for each patent family, together with a count of subsequent foreign filings that expand already existing patent families.
Figure 3: Top ten patent holders and the number of patent applications each filed (percentage each of the total).
Figure 4: Geographical distribution of patent family filings by date of filing of the priority application for each invention in a given jurisdiction's patent office.
Figure 5: CRISPR–Cas9 initial platform patent holders, licensors, licensees and partners.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Tushar Khandeka and Rohit Gole (Thomson Reuters) for excellent assistance with patent data; Nancy Eik-Nes at NTNU for invaluable language support and insights; Steinar Kvam at NTNU Technology Transfer Office for his design creativity supporting our figures; Bowman Heiden at Sahlgrenska School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Gothenburg, and Mats Lundqvist at Chalmers for strategic insights on intellectual property platforms. The authors also wish to express sincere thanks to the following organizations that have contributed to this collaboration as funding and event partners: The Research Council of Norway; VINNOVA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Knut J. Egelie and Berit Johansen are in the Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway,

    Knut J Egelie & Berit Johansen

  2. Gregory D. Graff is in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and the Department of Technology Management and Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden,

    Gregory D Graff

  3. Knut J. Egelie and Sabina P. Strand are in the Technology Transfer Office, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.,

    Knut J Egelie & Sabina P Strand

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  1. Knut J Egelie
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Correspondence to Knut J Egelie.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Analysis of the geographic scope of patent protection by top inventors. (PDF 101 kb)

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Egelie, K., Graff, G., Strand, S. et al. The emerging patent landscape of CRISPR–Cas gene editing technology. Nat Biotechnol 34, 1025–1031 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3692

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