Lombard Medical Technologies PLC Files Petition for Inter Partes Review of Patent (0467E)
May 07 2013 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMLMT
RNS Number : 0467E
Lombard Medical Technologies PLC
07 May 2013
Press Information
Lombard Medical Technologies PLC
("Lombard Medical" or "the Company")
Files Petition for Inter Partes Review of Patent with USPTO
London, UK, 7 May 2013 - Lombard Medical Technologies PLC (AIM:
LMT), the specialist medical technology company focused on
innovative vascular products, today announces that it has filed a
petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for Inter
Partes Review of the validity of the broadest claims of US patent
No. 6,306,141 ('141 patent), entitled "Medical devices
incorporating stress-induced martensite (SIM) alloy elements",
which is assigned to Medtronic Inc.
The Company believes that claims of the '141 patent directed to
the use of a shape memory alloy exhibiting SIM in a medical device,
are invalid because the use of self-expanding shape memory alloys
utilizing stress induced martensite (an inherent property of all
Nitinol based devices that exhibit thermally induced martensite
(TIM)) for medical devices was well known before the patent was
filed. As such the claims in the '141 patent are invalid and not
entitled to protection under the US patent laws. A final
determination by The Patent and Trademark Appeals Board (PTAB) of
the validity of the '141 patent will be issued within 18 months
after institution of the Review. No counterpart patents to the '141
patent are in force in other territories outside of the US.
Lombard Medical does not believe it infringes the '141 patent
and will launch Aorfix(TM), its lead product for the treatment of
abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), in H2 2013 as planned.
About the Inter Partes Review Process
Inter Partes Review is a relatively new proceeding arising from
provisions in the America Invents Act (2011). The Inter Partes
Review is conducted before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board
(PTAB). During the Review the PTAB will determine whether the
claims in a patent are invalid in view of the prior art, i.e.,
whether the patent should ever have been issued.
The Inter Partes Review process begins with the filing of a
petition by a third party (a person who is not the owner of the
patent). Once a petition has been filed, a patent owner will have
three months to respond to the petition and the PTAB will have
three months after that to consider whether the petition raises a
substantial new question of patentability. Once the proceeding is
instituted, the PTAB will issue a final determination of invalidity
within 1 year (extendable for good cause by 6 months). A petition,
once filed for Inter Partes Review, can be withdrawn by the
applicant at any stage of the process.
The procedure for conducting Inter Partes Review took effect on
September 16, 2012, and applies to any patent issued before, on, or
after September 16, 2012. As noted in The White House press release
on occasion of President Obama signing the America Invents Act into
law "The Patent and Trademark Office will offer entrepreneurs new
ways to avoid litigation regarding patent validity, at cost
significantly less expensive than going to court" (Sept 16
2011).
-Ends-
Lombard Medical Technologies PLC Tel: 01235 750 800
Simon Hubbert, Chief Executive Officer
Ian Ardill, Chief Financial Officer
Canaccord Genuity Limited Tel: 020 7523 8000
Lucy Tilley / Henry Fitzgerald O'Connor
/ Dr. Julian Feneley
FTI Consulting Tel: 020 7831 3113
Simon Conway / Susan Stuart / Victoria
Foster Mitchell
About Lombard Medical
Lombard Medical Technologies PLC (AIM: LMT), is a medical device
company focused on device solutions for the $1.2 billion dollar per
annum abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair market. AAAs are a
balloon-like enlargement of the aorta which, if left untreated, may
rupture and cause death. Approximately 4.5 million people are
living with AAAs in the developed world and each year 600,000 new
cases are diagnosed. The market for endovascular stent grafts for
this application is expected to grow to $1.6 billion by 2015. The
Company's lead product, Aorfix(TM), is an endovascular stent graft
which has been specifically designed to solve the problems that
exist in treating complex tortuous anatomy which is often present
in advanced AAA disease. Aorfix(TM) is currently being
commercialised in the EU, and has been approved by the FDA in the
U.S. It is the only stent graft approved for AAA neck angulations
of up to 90 degrees. Plans are currently underway to launch
Aorfix(TM) in the US later this year through the group's own direct
sales force, focusing on patients with tortuous aneurysm neck
anatomy between 60 and 90 degrees in line with the products unique
label. Aorfix(TM) is the first AAA stent graft not of U.S. origin
to gain FDA approval.
The Company is headquartered in Oxfordshire, with operations in
Ayrshire and Phoenix, USA.
Further background on the Company can be found at
www.lombardmedical.com.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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