ALLEA Statement on Patent-Related Aspects of CRISPR-Cas Technology
The principles enshrined in the EU Biotech Directive and the Implementing Regulations to the EPC, as applied in the patent granting practice of the European Patent Office to inventions related to the CRISPR-Cas technology, in the opinion of the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, reflect that the patent law in force in the EU and set forth in the EPC provides, on the one hand, the necessary incentives for a successful development and use of CRISPR-Cas technology across all fields of life sciences, but at the same time also provides all the necessary safeguards that in particular no patents can be granted for inventions, also those using CRISPR-Cas technology, which could in any way offend human dignity and/or integrity.
Those rules are flexible enough as to take into account also future regulatory developments which may provide new rules as regards the use of CRISPR-Cas technology in humans, but also in animals and plants. The ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights is, therefore, of the opinion that the CRISPR-Cas technology at the present stage does not require any reforms in the patent law field.