A U.S. patent board last week handed a win over a patent troll to St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ), ruling that several claims in a patent owned by Atlas IP LLC are unpatentable.
Atlas, a so-called “non-practicing entity,” was pursuing infringement lawsuits against St. Jude, cross-town rival Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) and Biotronik.
In a Dec. 3 ruling, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board cited recent federal appeals court rulings in the Medtronic case in finding that St. Jude showed that 4 of the claims in the patent covering patient monitoring technology are anticipated or unpatentable for obviousness.
The patent in question expired Jan. 29, 2013, according to the patent board.
