Closer Analysis Shows Consumer Groups Make Gains in Stem Cell Patent Challenges Against WARF; Appeal Still Planned Against Narro...(.S. Circuit Court for the Federal Circui...),Health

The "non-final office decision" in the inter partes re-examination of the '913 patent was posted late Wednesday on the PTO's website.

"The examiner based his decision on his own belief that it would not have been obvious to isolate human stem cells using widely known methods to isolate mouse stem cells, which contradicts the sworn testimony that we provided of four renowned stem cell embryologists who were doing such work," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT Executive Director. "Thus, the examiner took his own opinion over the opinions of our four leading stem cell scientist witnesses."

Joining the two consumer groups in the challenge from the beginning was Dr. Jeanne Loring, now of the Scripps Institute. After the initial rejection, Dr. Alan Trounson, then of Australia's Monash University and now president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Douglas Melton of Harvard and Dr. Chad Cowan of Harvard filed affidavits supporting the challenge.

"WARF executives were acting like arrogant bullies blinded by dollar signs," said Simpson. "Our challenge has engendered a more co-operative stance on their part."

Decisions are pending on the '780 and '806 patents. No other country recognizes the three WARF patents.

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is California's leading non-profit and non-partisan consumer watchdog group. For more information visit us on the web at: http://www.ConsumerWatchdog.org.

The Public Patent Foundation is a not-for-profit legal services organization that represents the public's interests against the harms caused by the patent system, particularly the harms caused by wrongly issued patents and unsound patent policy. For more information, visit us on the web at http://www.pubpat.org.