The ongoing legal battle over CRISPR-Cas9 patent rights has taken a new turn following a US appeals court decision favoring the University of California and University of Vienna. The ruling mandates reconsideration by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, focusing on invention conception rather than early functional demonstrations. This decision reopens the opportunity for Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier, and their institutions to assert patent ownership in the United States, intensifying the long-running dispute with the Broad Institute. Separately, customized CRISPR therapies are entering clinical use, exemplified by the first in vivo base editing treatment for a rare metabolic disease delivered to an infant patient.