UK Law Grad Wins Intellectual Property Writing Competition

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 22, 2016) University of Kentucky College of Law 2016 graduate Benjamin Tuttle has been selected as the first place winner of the 2016 Georgia State University Intellectual Property (IP) Writing Competition, which he entered during his third-year of law school. 

The competition asks law students to submit papers that address legal issues and challenges in the IP field. Entries are judged on originality of thought, contributions to the law and practice, completeness of scholarly research, and the style and content of the work.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the response to the paper and it is a tremendous honor to receive the first place award,” Tuttle said.

Last fall, Tuttle met with Franklin L. Runge, faculty services librarian, to plan the writing process for his independent study. Runge encouraged Tuttle to set a personal goal of getting the final paper published. Later, he discussed the subject of his paper with Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Associate Professor of Law, who gave him a flyer showcasing the writing competition.

“With their support and encouragement I achieved that goal and decided to take a chance and enter the competition,” Tuttle said.

In his paper “The Failure to Preserve CRISPR-Cas9's Patentability post 'Myriad and Alice,'” Tuttle reports on the patent eligibility of the recently discovered CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology.

Tuttle believes this topic is relevant because the technology is projected to generate billions of dollars in revenue and revolutionize the field of genetic engineering and medicine. There is currently a highly publicized patent dispute over CRISPR-Cas9 technology between two leading research institutions at University of California, Berkeley, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, recent developments in the law of intellectual property and patentability may threaten the patent eligibility of products-of-nature technologies like CRISPR-Cas9.  

Tuttle will travel to Atlanta in October to present his paper at the 2016 Corporate Intellectual Property Institute, a two-day networking event for in-house IP professionals to discuss industry trends and IP issues. His article will be printed in the September issue of the Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society.

While Tuttle remains interested in IP, he has chosen to pursue a career in medical malpractice litigation, where he will continue to use his science background. He recently joined the firm of Moore & Moore PLLC, where he clerked for the last year, and looks forward to working on a variety of issues. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu