On  June 20, 2017, Elekta AB, Elekta Holdings US, Inc., Elekta Ltd., and Elekta, Inc. were able to show that claim 6 of the patent owned by Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Varian Medical Systems AG, Varian Medical Systems Nederland BV, Varian Medical Systems Nederland Holdings BV, was unpatentable. Claim 6 of U.S. patent number 8,116,430 was held to be unpatentable on both obviousness, and anticipation grounds. The PTAB found that one skilled in the art would understand that a cited 2001 article anticipated the claim limitation of a translatable treatment couch. Similarly, the PTAB also found that the Petitioners demonstrated that the same claim is obvious in light of the 2001 article. The ‘430 patent is titled “Multi-Mode Cone Beam CT Radiotherapy Simulator and Treatment Machine with a Flat Panel Imager” and relates to a radiotherapy simulator and treatment machine that uses a flat panel imager to capture x-ray data to generate a cone beam. The IPR number is 2016-00476.

By: Nicholas Marcello