Case: Patents/Obviousness (Fed. Cir.)

The Federal Circuit reversed the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Bard that challenged claims of Globmus Medical Inc.'s patent directed to an implant that may be placed between a patient’s vertebrae to assist in spinal fusion surgeries aren’t unpatentable as obvious over prior art, in an inter partes review by Life Spine Inc. The court agreed with Life Spine’s proposed construction of the claim term “complementary with one another” and said that it is undisputed that the challenged claims are obvious over prior art under this construction.