The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has set February 4th at 1:00 pm EST for the Oral Hearing in the Priority Phase of Interference No. 106,115 between the Broad Institute, Harvard University, and MIT (collectively, "Broad") as Senior Party and the University of California/Berkeley, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, "CVC") as Junior Party. The hearing will be virtual (by telephone, audio only) and will be available to the public upon request under 37 C.F.R. § 41.124(c). The Parties will each have 20 minutes for argument, and each party will be able to reserve 5 minutes for rebuttal, with the Junior Party, CVC, arguing first.
The Board's Order, issued January 13th, informs the parties, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §§ 41.121(b) and 208(b), that:
Each party bears the burden of presenting persuasive arguments and evidence in the motions it files to establish that it is entitled to relief requested in that motion. . . . Thus, the written motions and supporting evidence filed by the parties, as well as the corresponding oppositions, replies, and supporting evidence, constitute the "trial" of an interference proceeding. To that end, trial testimony of witnesses is presented in the proceeding through written declarations and transcripts of cross-examination depositions submitted with the parties' briefs. Oral argument in an interference serves as means for the Board to question the parties on issues presented in their briefs and for the parties to summarize their arguments and the supporting evidence. Neither the oral argument nor demonstrative exhibits used during the oral argument will fulfill the requirement that each party must meet its burden in the briefs previously filed. Neither the oral argument nor demonstrative exhibits constitute evidence (other than possible admissions). The demonstratives may not introduce new evidence or argument. Demonstrative exhibits must cite to the location of the evidence in the record.
Regarding public access, interested members of the public can request access by e-mailing the request to PTABHearings@uspto.gov. The parties can object to access if that objection is provided at least five business days prior to the oral hearing date.
