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