On December 15, 2017, the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) issued a final decision in an inter partes review regarding a petition filed by Minerva Surgical, Inc. (“Petitioner”) over the patentability of claims 1-15 recited in U.S. Patent No. 6,872,183 (“the ‘183 Patent”). The ‘183 Patent, which is owned by Hologic, Inc., is drawn to a system and method for detecting perforations in a body cavity. In the decision, the Board determined that Petitioner had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1-15 of the ‘183 Patent are unpatentable over various obviousness grounds under 35 U.S.C § 103. The inter partes review remains pending at the Board and is captioned IPR2016-00868.
By: Jacqueline A. DiRamio