September 14, 2017 – On September 12, 2017, the PTAB denied institution of inter partes review of a joint surgery instrument patent based on a pair of petitions filed by Smith & Nephew, Inc.  The Board found that the cited art did not inherently disclose, and did not provide a reasonable expectation of success in implementing, a key aspect of the claimed invention.

The cases are Smith & Nephew, Inc. v. Conformis, Inc., IPR2017-00983 and IPR2017-00984.  The challenged patent is U.S. Patent No. 8,657,826, entitled “Surgical Tools for Arthroplasty.”

By: Sean C. McDonagh