The US Patent and Trademark Office decision to grant the patent could further fuel a long-running rivalry between the university and the Broad Institute, a biological and genomic research centre affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University that also holds patents on CRISPR. The University of California ( UC ) is expected to receive patent approval for genome - editing technology CRISPR after the US Patent and Trademark Office issues a notice of allowance , which typically indicates the issue of a patent within eight weeks . Once granted the patent will put UC Berkeley in competition with the Broad Institute , which also holds CRISPR patents and is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University . The UC patent relates to how CRISPR could edit genomes in DNA synthesis . If granted , UC 's patent can still be challenged in court .
The University of California ( UC ) is expected to receive patent approval for genome - editing technology CRISPR after the US Patent and Trademark Office issues a notice of allowance , which typically indicates the issue of a patent within eight weeks . Once granted the patent will put UC Berkeley in competition with the Broad Institute , which also holds CRISPR patents and is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University . The UC patent relates to how CRISPR could edit genomes in DNA synthesis . If granted , UC 's patent can still be challenged in court .