UH, former researcher settle cloning dispute

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i and a former researcher have agreed to drop lawsuits that claimed each party had intellectual property rights to landmark work on mice cloning.

Both sides reached an out-of-court agreement last fall, but the settlement was sealed because of a confidentiality clause. Terms of the agreement were released yesterday.

In addition to dropping the lawsuits, the University of Hawai'i and former researcher Anthony Perry agreed to let the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decide the issue of intellectual property rights.

Neither Perry nor his Hawai'i attorney, Jeffrey Harris, could be reached for comment yesterday.

Walter Kirimitsu, general counsel for the university, said the agreement clears the way for the university to proceed with full and unencumbered research on cloning.

"Everybody swallowed their respective egos and just said they were going to dismiss their respective claims and not spend more time and expenses to carry it to trial," Kirimitsu said.

Perry filed a lawsuit against the university in July 1999 over rights to research work he did on cloning. Perry was part of a team led by Ryuzo Yanagimachi that introduced the world's first cloned mice and later mice that glowed green.

Perry pioneered a technique, known as "Honolulu transgenesis," that transmitted genetic material between animals. He was able to transmit a green gene from a jellyfish to create the green mice.

In his lawsuit, Perry accused the university of selling the rights to market the technique to a biotech company without his consent. Perry, who no longer is with the university, claimed that all intellectual property rights belonged to him.

But University of Hawai'i officials disagreed and said the university owned patent rights and other technology developed by scientists in its laboratories.

Kirimitsu said the two sides will file applications with the Patent Office for a decision of who owns the rights to the research.