Roughly four years after Intuitive Surgical Inc. petitioned for an inter partes review for a patent owned by Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that the first 14 claims in Ethicon’s 9,585,658 patent are invalid. While the fate of two other claims are still up in the air pending remand to the PTAB, the net effect of the hearing was significantly damaging to an Ethicon patent for surgical staplers that has been in place for only four years.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: FDA posts advisory for respiratory splitters; NICE: Propel device not ready for routine use; MITA sounds off on third parties with white paper; Ethicon, AIM settle on Esutures sales.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Testing labs captured in enforcement action; Ethicon wins injunction against AIM over sutures; TGA updates class I ARTG listing requirements.
Ethicon U.S. LLC has prevailed in a preliminary action seeking a temporary restraining order against Advanced Inventory Management (AIM) Inc., of Mokena, Ill., which is accused of having imported and sold surgical supplies falsely bearing the Ethicon trademark. Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, N.J., further alleges the sutures were bacterially contaminated and defective.
