The worldwide wound care war went another round after Kinetic Concepts Inc. won a patent decision over rival Smith & Nephew.

After re-examining a trio of KCI negative-pressure wound therapy patents, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office confirmed their validity.

That makes the score just about even, as the San Antonio, Texas-based wound care firm has notched victories here and in Australia, while the British conglomerate won decisions in Germany and the United Kingdom over equivalent intellectual property.

Smith & Nephew, which houses its endoscopy division in Andover, Mass., said it plans to appeal the latest U.S. Patent Office decision.

As for KCI, the firm seems confident it will prevail in all the various arenas, naming Michael Genau to its newly created global president of wound therapy position, where he’ll lead the company’s expansion plans for the division.