University of Wisconsin, California Company In Negotiations over Stem Cell Suit - Geron Corp. patent case - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 13, 2001

The University of Wisconsin's patent agency is negotiating a settlement with the California company it sued over access to stem cells produced by school researchers.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., issued a joint statement that said they expect to resolve their differences over a licensing agreement "in the near future." They said the content of the discussions was confidential.

WARF filed the lawsuit against Geron, which funded the pioneering research. The suit asked the U.S. District Court in Madison to stop the California company from trying to limit the foundation's ability to work with other researchers to develop new types of tissue from stem cells.

The foundation has patents on five stem cell lines, and Geron has licensing rights to six types of cells that can be grown from those lines, according to the foundation.

Scientists believe embryonic stem cells are capable of generating about 200 types of cells.

The lawsuit contends Geron has no right to add cell types to its license agreement with the foundation.