_From the blog

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The most lucrative applications of CRISPR involve human medicine. The gene-editing technology promises to revolutionize not only the prevention of hereditary diseases but cancer treatment. PTAB issued its ruling on the ownership of patents related to CRISPR-Cas9 on Wednesday. Berkeley has subsequently filed an interference, arguing that the patent should not have been granted in the first place. The university claims that the link between the published research and possible applications of CRISPR-Cas9 was obvious. If the court is convinced, the Broad Institute’s patents will be voided.

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The fight for control of the powerful gene-editing technology known as CRISPR may have a winner: the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. On Wednesday the Patent Trial and Appeals Board issued its ruling on the ownership of patents related to CRISPR-Cas9. Dana Carroll, a biochemist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, testified on behalf of UC Berkeley, arguing that the extension of the team’s research to applications with human cells was "obvious". Doudna’s group published a paper showing that CRISPR could edit such cells soon after Zhang’s group published their study. But PTAB did not agree.

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The question at hand is who owns the intellectual property of a powerful new gene-editing technique, and potentially billions of dollars that will flow from its implementation. The Federal Patent Trial and Appeal Board issued its ruling on the ownership of more than a dozen patents related to CRISPR-Cas9. The decision is a major blow to the university’s fight with the Broad Institute. In a statement, UC Berkeley said it "respects" the decision but maintains that Doudna and Charpentier were the first to invent CRISPR, citing their 2012 publication describing the gene-editing system.

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The fight over control of CRISPR appears to be over, at least for the moment. PTAB issued its 51-page ruling on CRISPR-Cas9 on Wednesday. The judges concluded that the Broad’s patents for using the technology with eukaryotic cells did not interfere with Berkeley’s patent application which claims the application of CRISPR technology in general.

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Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Vienna are licking their wounds and vowing to fight. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board issued its ruling on Wednesday, suggesting that the work done at UC Berkeley was not sufficiently groundbreaking. The Broad Institute successfully argued that its claims, which are all limited to the application of CRISPR-Cas9 in animal and plant cells, are sufficiently different from UC’s claims, which apply to all types of cells. Specifically, the judges agreed that the invention of such systems in plant and animal cells would not have been obvious, because a person of ordinary skill in the art would not have reasonably expected CRISPR-Cas9 to work in those cells.

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The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found no "interference" between patents by Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and those of Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley. The 51-page ruling suggested that the work done at UC Berkeley was not sufficiently groundbreaking, but the university disagrees and plans to appeal. Because it concludes that the two inventions are distinct, both parties’ patent claims can potentially coexist. Doudna says that she will continue to pursue her own patent. What becomes of the UC Berkeley patent application is unclear. But the Broad’s CRISPR patents have survived the challenge.

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Hospitals are in a state of crisis after dozens of civilians were killed and hundreds injured in a suspected chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria on 4 April. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the incident was fabricated, while Russian president Vladimir Putin said rebels had struck a depot of chemical munitions. Witnesses describe an enormous yellow cloud that persisted for hours.

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More than 80 people were killed and over 500 injured in a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria on 4 April. The U.S. government claims that the chemical agent sarin was used in the attack, with a spokesperson noting that it was "almost certainly" carried out by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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The nerve agent sarin was allegedly used in what UN sources describe as a chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in northern Syria, days after the White House accused President Bashar al-Assad's government of planning a similar strike. The attack occurred in Khan Sheikhoun, about 50km (30 miles) south of the city of Idlib, early on 4 April while many people were sleeping. Entire families were killed in the April 4 attack, some while they were sleeping. A nearby hospital was bombed hours later, forcing rescue workers to load casualties into trucks and drive them to the next nearest clinic miles away.

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On 7 April, marking the first direct US military action against forces commanded by Syria's president, the United States launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. The strike was in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on 4 April in the town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Syrian government denies that it has chemical weapons, and Assad’s supporters have attributed the deaths to the accidental bombing of a rebel chemical weapons factory.

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The OPCW said in a statement that its fact-finding team was working to clarify "unresolved issues" over the Syrian government’s declared chemical stockpiles. Images of casualties from the attack on Khan Sheikhoun, many of them children, prompted the White House to act, according to sources close to the president. On 7 April, US Navy ships launched 59 cruise missiles at Shayrat Air Base, which U.S. intelligence claimed was the source of the attack. They targeted aircraft, aircraft shelters, storage areas, ammunition supply bunkers and air defence systems at the Syrian government-controlled facility, according to the Pentagon. It could not be confirmed whether chemical munitions were stored at the base.

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It looks like the company has set its sights on the automotive industry. According to sources close to CEO Tim Cook, Apple has assembled a team for an electric car initiative, code-named Project Titan. Recruitment for the project is reportedly encroaching on Tesla, with several key engineers already poached. The ultimate location of this operation has yet to be confirmed but is unlikely to be far from the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters.

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The iPhone maker was rumored to have hired thousands of engineers to work on a secretive task. And now it is known that Apple has assembled a 600-person team for an electric car initiative, code-named Project Titan. Beyond the green energy prospects is the promise of autonomous cars, enticing a scrum of technology companies into an industry that is estimated to be worth $6.7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey & Co.

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In December, Steve Kenner, the company’s director of product integrity, wrote a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealing the company's interest in automotive technology. And now the cat is out of the bag: Apple has an electric car initiative, called Project Titan, with a target ship date of 2019. Insiders report that CEO Tim Cook was also bullish about the prospects for electric vehicles, a market which last week helped Tesla become one of the world’s most valued companies, in spite of being dwarfed by the unit sales of traditional car companies.

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Tesla Inc. may be facing stiffer competition from other tech giants than Musk probably expected, and one of the analysts that had been most bullish on the firm's growth is growing worried. The cause? Apple has an electric car initiative, Project Titan, with an "ambitious" target ship date of 2019, insiders report. Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas, who downgraded shares of Tesla on risk of competition, is repeating his concerns after hearing Tim Cook's outline of the iPhone maker's plans.

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As Google's Waymo announced a deal with Avis to store and service a fleet of its autonomous vehicles, Apple is reported to be partnering with Hertz as a part of its self-driving vehicle efforts. The IPhone maker's ambitious automobile initiative, Project Titan, has a target ship date of 2019, but there is doubt that the team can meet that deadline. Analysts rate the computer manufacturer's capacity to produce a working vehicle as "unrealistic" and expect Apple to forge partnerships with traditional automobile companies.

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There is a significant increase in interest in cryptocurrencies as an asset class. The value of Bitcoin surged in June to more than $3,000. Governments around the world are considering how to regulate and classify the cryptocurrency. Analysts say that the decision is a balance between the efficiency and robustness of such a decentralized system against its high price volatility.

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Like other virtual currencies, Bitcoin lacks a governing authority such as a central bank. Instead, transactions are recorded by the thousands of users across the Internet that maintain logs and validate transactions - a technology known as blockchain. The value of Bitcoin reached a record high of $3,025.47 on 11 June. It has taken a hit in recent days in the wake of negative statements from the European Central Bank and other authorities about the future of the currency.

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Bitcoin has continued its meteoric rise. The value of the cryptocurrency crested above $3000 in June. In a letter addressed to the members of the European Parliament last week, Mario Draghi stated that cryptocurrencies could pose a "build-up of risks" that could prompt a "direct regulatory response." With a rise in the use of Bitcoin and other blockchain-based currencies, the ECB will continue to monitor the volumes traded, the most important digital currencies and "their links to the traditional financial sector."

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Yet, while the ECB has appeared open to the distributed ledger in the past, it has not favored Bitcoin. The central bank has gone so far as to call for tighter controls on the digital currency and that it didn't want them labeled as either currencies or money. In a statement in May, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), said that the bank was closely monitoring the blockchain to assess its risk to markets. Now Draghi says that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could pose a "build-up of risks". But he also noted that cryptocurrencies have a limited effect on the "traditional" economy, spurring confidence from jittery blockchain investors. This latest development from the ECB comes amid a market capitalization increase.

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European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi addressed the European Parliament on 17 July, stating that cryptocurrencies have a limited impact on the global financial system, though a "build-up of risks" and even a "direct regulatory response" could be on the horizon. The statement appeared optimistic as Draghi and other central bankers assess the risk posed by such assets to the future of finance. By 22 July, Bitcoin's market capitalization increased 20% to $42 billion. Volatility continues to be a major factor in the markets, but analysts say this is unsurprising given the wealth of news driving prices.