A Medical Device Daily

I-Flow (Lake Forest, California) reported that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has concluded its reexamination of U.S. patent No. 5,284,481 (the '481 patent) and has issued a Notice of Intent to confirm its patentability.

This patent covers intellectual property for the infusion apparatus used in the company's flagship ON-Q Pain Relief System and is also used as the basis for other I-Flow brands and product lines. ON-Q improves patient outcomes by continuously infusing a local anesthetic to the surgical site area or adjacent nerves following surgery. This lowers the need for narcotics, reduces length of stay and helps patients get back to normal faster.

I-Flow said it has vigorously enforced its patent and trade secret rights for its ON-Q Pain Relief System against Apex Medical Technologies (San Diego) and its president, Mark McLaughlin, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. I-Flow is also enforcing its patent rights against distributors of Apex's Solace Pump, including Zone Medical (San Diego).

In response to the litigation brought by I-Flow, the defendants asked the patent office to reexamine I-Flow's patent.

After receiving submissions from both parties, the Patent Office reconfirmed the patent with clarifying amendments to some of the patent's claims. The Patent Office filed its Notice of Intent to Issue Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate, reflecting its decision, on April 22, 2009.