Chapter 198: Moratorium (3)

At Seoul Central District Court, today was the first day of arguments in an important case: the ten billion dollar lawsuit between A-GenBio and Atmox. A-GenBio’s defense team, including Park Joo-Hyuk, rushed inside. Only three defense lawyers were actually participating in the hearing, with most of them listening from the audience. Atmox’s CEO came, but he was also listening from the audience.

The trial itself was being carried out by three lawyers. Lee Chun-Myung, the judge, had just reread the opening statements from A-GenBio, the plaintiff, and Atmox, the defendant, before coming into court. It was a very intimidating case as everyone in the world was focused on this case. On top of that, it was also a very difficult trial.

‘Based on the lawsuit itself, it’s a no-brainer that Atmox should provide compensation, but...’

Lee Chun-Myung thought as he reviewed the preparatory documents.

‘It’s difficult to determine the amount of compensation.’

The plaintiffs were asking for a whopping ten billion dollars.

‘Twelve trillion won.’

It was enough to buy you a medium-sized company. Lee Chun-Myung wondered whether it would be this much if he added up all the claims he’d seen in the civil lawsuits he had handled.

He thought A-GenBio was crazy when he first heard the amount of the claim, but it was a different story when he read the complaint and preparation documents in detail. It was just that A-GenBio was a company that was experiencing abnormal growth and explosive sales, and it was just that Cas9 was too powerful.

“This case is brought by defendants Atmox, a corporation, and Mr. He Jiankui, an individual. It is divided into two. Based on the representative selection system, I would like to inform you that Atmox was chosen as the representative. Mr. Wang Wei, the CEO of Atmox, will be representing the defendants,” said Lee Chun-Myung.

The citizens and reporters, who filled the courtroom, were listening carefully to the judge or taking notes without missing anything.

Lee Chun-Myung began the trial.

“Counsel for the plaintiff, please briefly explain your claim.”

“Yes, I will state the complaint we submitted in advance.”

Park Joo-Hyuk stood up.

“The defendant utilized the patented invention Cas9, for which A-GenBio has the exclusive right to use, without authorization, resulting in the birth of a genetically engineered baby. As a result, the plaintiff has suffered a significant setback in its subsequent research using Cas9, and claims compensation for the amount of damages.”

“Thank you. Defendant’s counsel, please respond to the plaintiff’s claim,” Lee Chun-Myung said.

“Yes, Your Honor. The details are in the response we submitted,” Atmox’s lawyer spoke. “To summarize, the defendants admit to the infringement of property rights by using Cas9, a patented invention, but the plaintiff’s claim is absurdly large. The scope of the damages should be limited to the loss of property or reduction in the company’s revenue caused by the defendant’s actions.”

“Yes, thank you,” Lee Chun-Myung said. “The defendants have admitted to infringing on patent rights by using a patented invention without a license. Then, the issue of this case is going to be deciding the scope of damages. Plaintiff, please submit evidence to support your claim for damages.”

“Yes, Your Honor. Exhibit A, the patent specification for Cas9,” Park Joo-Hyuk said. “As a product and use patent, this specification explains how to use Cas9. The claim twenty-two discusses the genetic modification of a living cell with Cas9.”

Park Joo-Hyuk picked up the specification.

“This means that genetic modification of cells using Cas9 is the property of A-GenBio that is protected by registered patent laws. But Atmox and He Jiankui have improperly commercialized it and profited from it, which constitutes an unjustified first-mover advantage to the market. This is an illegal act that has hindered the follow-up research that A-GenBio was preparing.”

Park Joo-Hyuk submitted a second piece of evidence.

“Furthermore, A-GenBio is discovering the entire SNPs of genes involved in embryogenesis from the genome project.”

Lee Chun-Myung read the preparatory documents again. This was the second reason why the case was difficult: scientific jargon was being thrown around. As Lee Chun-Myung had already studied the preparation documents closely, he just had to read his notes that he wrote on the documents.

‘SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism): Variation of a single base position in the DNA.’

“These SNP data are strongly associated with disease development, and as the sample size grows, we can use statistical techniques like GWAS to demonstrate correlation with diseases. Through this data, A-GenBio wanted to identify target disease locations in embryonic genes and eliminate them to stop genetic diseases. There have already been significant preclinical results,” Park Joo-Hyuk said. “For example, Delta-32, a mutation in the CCR5 gene that is in question right now, is associated with a risk of reduced lifespan. If A-GenBio conducted genetic modification on this gene at the embryonic stage, we could have eliminated Delta-32 and helped improve human health.”

Lee Chun-Myung gulped as he saw Park Joo-Hyuk speak.

‘I just heard he was Ryu Young-Joon’s close friend who had worked with him when he was back at A-Bio... But he’s basically a biology expert.’

Park Joo-Hyuk’s explanation went on.

“However, Atmox skipped all scientific approaches and performed genetic modification to insert Delta-32 into the CCR5 gene of an embryo, causing severe adverse effects on future research. Please take a look at the documents submitted as Exhibit C. It contains the media’s reaction when Mimi, the genetically modified baby, was presented at the GSC International Conference, and the change in funding for Cas9 research,” Park Joo-Hyun said. “Numerous international journals and media outlets condemned the research and expressed concern about the future of human genetic modification. Religious organizations held rallies in several countries. In fifty-two countries, including the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Canada, funding for Cas9 research dropped by as much as seventy percent. The resulting loss of revenue from royalties on A-GenBio’s Cas9 patient is estimated at 1.3 billion dollars annually.”

Park Joo-Hyuk went on to explain the documents.

“Moreover, Mr. Ryu Young-Joon, the CEO of A-GenBio, personally declared a moratorium on the academic research regarding Cas9 to take responsibility for the situation. This tense atmosphere will be difficult to ease for a while, and the embryonic gene modification that A-GenBio was planning will also be restricted. It is clear that this will inevitably hinder the commercialization of treatments for inherited genetic diseases.”

* * *

The hearing went on for three hours, and it was adjourned to resume the next morning.

The first hearing was basically Park Joo-Hyuk’s one-man show. Working alongside Young-Joon, Park Joo-Hyuk had gained considerable knowledge about A-Gen’s research. He also knew the law from studying for the bar exam, and he also knew patent laws well as he worked with Patent Attorney Lee Hae-Won on the patent for the flu treatment. He was nervous, but he completely crushed his opponent.

‘Phew...’

Wang Wei, Atmox’s Ceo, sighed as he left the court. The trial went terribly. His lawyers argued that the patent laws did not grant the right to first-mover advantage and that although Atmox and He Jiankui’s creation of a genetically modified baby was an infringement of patented property, their right to jump into the market was separate. However, this logic was quickly broken in the face of research ethics.

“We call Ms. Zhi Xuan, the mother of the genetically modified baby, as a witness,” said Park Joo-Hyuk.

Atmox’s lawyers froze as soon as they saw her as she was a powerful witness.

Zhi Xuan’s story, which was barely told through an interpreter, was so shocking that it left everyone in the courtroom, citizens and reporters alike, gasping in shock.

“I didn’t know that the procedure was genetic modification. None of the mothers there were given a detailed explanation.”

“Objection! The witness signed the consent form herself,” shouted Atmox’s attorney.

“We submitted that consent form as evidence,” Park Joo-Hyuk argued back. “Ms. Zhi Xuan didn’t even graduate from elementary school and doesn’t know how to read or write. The name she printed on the consent form isn’t even in Chinese. Under these circumstances, we cannot assume that the witness understood the situation and signed the consent form.”

“Yes... Doctor He Jiankui said that I wouldn’t have a chance later on, and he told me to write something. So, I scribbled anything with the pen,” said Zhi Xuan.

Park Joo-Hyuk approached Zhi Xuan with a piece of paper.

“This is a record of entrances from Atmox’s labs that we received from the Public Security Bureau. According to this, the witness signed and left the lab in just fifteen minutes. Is that correct?”

“Yes... I waited for a while, and I left right after signing,” Zhi Xuan said in a scared voice.

Then, Park Joo-Hyuk turned to the audience and asked, “Suppose she didn’t wait and had the experiment explained to her for the entire fifteen minutes. Would an illiterate, uneducated woman in her twenties have understood enough during that time to make a reasonable judgment about the logic behind the genetic modification of embryos using Cas9, how it blocks the inheritance of HIV, and what the possible side effects might be? Has the witness received any additional graduate-level biology or medical training besides elementary education?”

“No...”

“This entire study is a violation of clinical trial regulations. Atmox did not legitimately take the first-mover advantage in the market of genetically modified embryos as it was not a fair competition.”

Atmox was torn to shreds at the first hearing.

* * *

Wang Wei went on his phone in the car, trying to calm his mind.

‘It’s fine.’

A-GenBio was a huge company with a very high revenue. His lawyers expected that they would let Atmox go if they stalled for time, as it would be more profitable for them to focus on their main business.

And He Jiankui had shown him how to stall them. He Jiankui had already informed the Korean media that China was building a large industrial zone on the eastern coast, which would blow micro-dust to Korea.

‘And he also exposed Doctor Ryu Young-Joon for not caring about the health of the Korean people.’

Wang Wei took a deep breath. If they could tarnish Young-Joon’s image, A-GenBio would care less about the trial, and if they stalled for time, it could all go up in smokes...

“What is this?”

Wang Wei froze while scrolling on his phone. A news article from China’s Beijing Daily popped up on his screen.

[South Korea company Cellijenner develops a running micro-dust reduction device based on joint research with A-GenBio.]