Intuitive Falls Short of Full Win in Surgical Patent Challenge

Intuitive Surgical Inc. received mixed results in its challenge to a rival’s tissue stapling patent, with a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal invalidating several claims but upholding others.

Intuitive asked the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to review Rex Medical LP’s U.S. Patent No. 9,439,650 after the California medical device maker was accused of infringement. It argued much of the patent was obvious based on earlier inventions.

The PTAB’s decision Friday preserves a handful of patent claims central to the lawsuit.

Rex Med’s suit, filed in January 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleges ...