Prof Charpentier, the University of Vienna, and California Regents are co-owners of a portfolio of foundational CRISPR/Cas9 patents (the ‘CVC Patents’), consisting of over 130 patents worldwide, with over 50 in the US alone, covering over 1,400 claims. A license to the CVC Patents is essential for ensuring freedom to operate when practicing the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in all cells.

Where in the world are our patents issued

USA
50 issued patents
38 pending
Europe
7 issued patents
3 pending
International (including China and Japan)
37 issued patents
20 pending
What do the CVC Patents cover?

The CVC inventors have been awarded three broad patents on the CRISPR/Cas9 technology that include claims to the following:
- A composition comprising a chimeric Cas9 protein and a DNA targeting RNA which includes a DNA-targeting segment and a protein-binding segment comprising tracrRNA and CRISPR RNA (crRNA)
- A method of modifying a target DNA in a single-cell eukaryotic organism, an animal cell, or a plant cell comprising contacting the target DNA with a CRISPR/Cas9 complex
- A method of modifying a target DNA comprising contacting the target DNA with a CRISPR/Cas9 complex where the crRNA and tracrRNA are covalently linked by intervening nucleotides (single guide RNA)
In the USA
The CVC portfolio contains issued, allowed and pending patents which include claims to the following:
- Compositions and methods of using Cas9 with a guide RNA to form a CRISPR/Cas9 complex that binds a specified DNA sequence
- Various formats for delivering these complexes in cells of all types
- Use of the CRISPR/Cas9 complex to cleave DNA (resulting in knock-outs, insertions or mutations)
- Use of mutated Cas9 to ‘nick’ DNA (in place of cleavage) or to bring an effector domain to a specified DNA sequence to regulate gene expression in a cell
- Compositions of guide RNAs in a variety of formats including various lengths, chemical modifications, and base compositions
