Stem cells ramping up.., page-66

Indeed, IP is complex! The strongest patents are composition of matter - ie patenting the molecule or the cell. It is relatively easy to prove infringement and it will cover all uses.

Both the Osiris and the MSB composition of matter patents are quite specific in terms of the cells they cover - in the Osiris case, a population effectively defined by the process used to isolate them and in the MSB case, by cell surface markers. The Osiris patents are earlier and reasonably broad, and the MSB patents are careful to carve out a position not covered by Osiris (and they inevitably define a very narrow class of cells). Together, they present a strong joint position over the MSC field - but remember they do not have much life left (without checking, I think the original Osiris composition patents have expired, and the MSB ones must be getting close). Note that it is still possible to develop MSC's that do not infringe either MSB or Osiris.

MSB (both itself and through Osiris) has many use patents - in fact most of its patent portfolio would fall into this category. For these, infringement is more difficult to prove and you need to make sure you cover as many indications as possible.

Patents around iPS cells abound, and you'd need to look closely to discern the patent landscape - so take any patent claims in this field with a grain of salt! As @pfeifer1982 has pointed out, the dominant position is held by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but there are competing claims and varying methodologies. And iPS cells would likely not infringe the MSB or Osiris patents.