The University of Pittsburgh has won a key legal victory in a patent fight over the use of stem cells derived from fat to create new therapies.

The dispute dates to early this decade, when officials at Pitt and the University of California began wrangling over who would have rights to profit from the promising technique.

The technique was developed at Pitt, but researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles were also involved. Each institution later laid claim to the invention, with Pitt licensing its rights to a company called Artecel and UCLA licensing its rights to a company called StemSource, which was founded by some of the researchers involved. (StemSource was later acquired by another company and is now part of larger company called Cytori Therapeutics.)

This month, a federal court in California ruled that only the Pittsburgh scientists were inventors and that the UCLA researchers were not. “As a result, only Pittsburgh and its exclusive worldwide licensee, Artecel, have rights” to use the technique to develop therapies, said Artecel in a news release.

Cytori, in its own news release, said it believed that the decision was incorrect and that the University of California might seek to appeal it. The company said it had other patents that would allow it to proceed with the development of its products.

The technique is considered valuable because it involves a way to develop stem cells without destroying embryos, using a source — human fat — that is more than readily available. —Goldie Blumenstyk