Upholding of WARF stem cell patent reversed

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Board of Appeals and Interference has reversed an earlier decision from the Patent Office's re-examination division that upheld the claims of one of the stem cell lines held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The patent covers one of the three key stem cell lines that were challenged through re-examination proceedings initiated in October 2006 at the request of consumer watchdog groups New York City-based Public Patent Foundation and the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, now called Consumer Watchdog.

The re-examination division upheld the validity of the patents in mid-2008, and the groups were allowed to challenge one of the patents in an appeal to the Board of Appeals and Interference.

The groups argue 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. The groups claimed the three WARF patents were "impeding scientific progress and driving vital stem cell research overseas."

The patent office rejected the arguments by the groups...