Two embryonic-stem-cell patents controlled by the patenting arm of the University of Wisconsin at Madison — and challenged by two public-interest groups — have been upheld by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The news comes just two weeks after the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the university’s patenting organization, announced that the first of its three key stem-cell patents had been upheld.

The foundation, known as WARF, praised the latest decision in a statement.

The foundation also made a point of noting that its policies now allow all academic scientists to freely conduct work covered by the patents. WARF had initially pressed for tighter licensing rules for the cells and work conducted under techniques outlined by the patents, an approach that drew criticism from many in academe, as well as from the two public-interest groups that went on to challenge the patents.

Those groups, the Public Patent Foundation, of New York, and the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, in California, have said they would continue to challenge the three patents either in the courts or through the appeal process of the patent office. —Goldie Blumenstyk