Otsuka Gets Another Shot Challenging Medtronic Patent’s Validity

The validity of a Medtronic Plc patent for a hypertension treatment is in flux after the Federal Circuit tossed and remanded an administrative tribunal’s July 2023 decision upholding it.

Judge Sharon Prost, in an opinion issued Thursday for a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, vacated the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that Medtronic Ireland Manufacturing Unlimited Co.'s US Patent No. 8,845,629 was neither obvious in light of nor anticipated by prior patents.

The board ignored important details from an earlier patent and “disregarded the ‘expansive and flexible approach’ to obviousness inquiries expressed” ...