ConMed (NSDQ:CNMD) subsidiary SurgiQuest lost an intellectual property spat with Lexion Medical last week when a U.S. patent board invalidated a trocar patent.
SurgiQuest sued Lexion last year, alleging infringement of patent no. 9,095,372B2, covering a “system and method for improved gas recirculation in surgical trocars with pneumatic sealing,” by Lexion’s line of Insuflow Synergy Port devices.
Lexion asked the U.S. Patent Trial & Appeals Board for an inter partes review of the patent, arguing that the first 11 claims are unpatentable for obviousness.
The PTAB agreed, ruling June 29 that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found the claims to be obvious.
Utica, N.Y.-based Conmed paid $265 million for SurgiQuest back in January 2016, inheriting its various beefs with Lexion. In April 2017, SurgiQuest lost a $12.2 million false advertising case against its rival when a jury in the U.S. District Court for Delaware found it liable for $2.2 million in compensatory damages and an additional $10 million in punitive damages for false advertising in marketing literature for its AirSeal system.
