WARF Pushes Stem Cell Patent Claims

The latest dust-up over stem cell patents took place earlier this month in California when the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation's chief counsel told a conference she expects California to pay royalties to her agency. WARF owns the original patent filed by James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin on deriving human embryonic stem cells, and believes anyone who uses any variation of the technology must obtain a license.

There is a research exemption (in which case WARF only charges $5,000 per use), but, according to the California Stem Cell Report, WARF had a change of heart regarding California because the state's Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM is the body set up by Prop 71, which established California's $3 billion stem cell research fund) recently approved rules that "give the state roughly 25 percent royalties on inventions developed by CIRM-funded research at non-profit institutions."

However, attorney Lawrence Ebert, who publishes a widely read blog on intellectual property issues, warns:

"The folks at WARF ought to be careful. CIRM is a state agency. Accusations of patent infringement against states play out a bit differently than the garden variety suit against a garden variety defendant."