In September 2015, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied four more petitions by Stryker Corporation (SYK) for inter partes review of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,471,310, 7,821,530, 7,844,657, and 8,439,821, owned by Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc. (IPR2015-00672, Paper 9; IPR2015-00674, Paper 9; IPR2015-00764, Paper 13; IPR2015-00679, Paper 9.) The PTAB also denied in part Stryker’s two petitions for IPR of KSEA’s U.S. Patent No. 8,069,420. (IPR2015-00677, Paper 15; IPR2015-00678, Paper 12.) The KARL STORZ patents are directed to video imaging systems (‘310 and ‘530 patents), systems for controlling medical devices in an operating room (‘657 and ‘821 patents), and systems for controlling the communication of medical imaging data (‘420 patent). KARL STORZ commercializes the technology and Stryker is one of its competitors.
By Stephen F.W. Ball, Jr. Motions to dismiss, also called 12(b)(6) motions, have been used to eviscerate patent rights on the basis that a patent is allegedly directed to an “abstract concept” and thus lacks [Read More…]
WHIPgroup obtained another patent allowance using the After Final Consideration Pilot (AFCP) Program. In U.S. Application No. 15/239,469 directed to an eccentric well pipe, a Final Office Action rejected pending claims for obviousness. WHIPgroup attorneys [Read More…]
WHIPgroup attorneys were successful in using the Pre-Appeal Brief Review program to overcome a final rejection. During prosecution, the USPTO rejected claims directed to a method for actively damping oscillations in a compression process as [Read More…]