Precision BioSciences Announces that the US Patent Office Action Issues Second Actions Rejecting All Claims Asserted by CELLECTIS SA in Litigation

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Precision BioSciences, Inc., today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has now issued Actions Closing Prosecution in the reexamination proceedings for both U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,545 (“the ‘545 patent”) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,309,605 (“the ‘605 patent”) that are owned by the Institut Pasteur and the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), and licensed to Cellectis, SA (ALCLS). The ‘545 patent and the ‘605 patent are the two patents asserted against Precision in litigation filed in March 2008 by Cellectis, but the PTO has now twice rejected all claims asserted against Precision in the litigation. Significantly, during the course of the reexaminations, the patent owners have filed amendments to each of the original independent claims asserted in the litigation in an effort to overcome the PTO’s rejections. The Actions Closing Prosecution are designated “non-final” because the patent owners have the right to file comments in an effort to persuade the patent examiners to reconsider the rejections and re-open prosecution. If the examiners maintain the rejections, the rejections will be made “final,” and can be appealed to the PTO’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences.