Ivera Med. Corp. v. Hospira, Inc., No. 14-1613 (Fed. Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseThe three patents at issue share the same written description and explain that medical implements, such as catheters and luer ports, are common sites for transmissions of pathogens into patients. To prevent such transmissions, medical staff traditionally swabbed a site before making connections to medical implements. Swabs came in a small pad of cotton gauze soaked in a cleaning agent (e.g., isopropyl alcohol) and packed in a foil package to prevent evaporation. After swabbing, the site is allowed to dry, killing any pathogens. In practice, these swabbing procedures were often “overlooked” or “poorly executed.” The inventors provided a cleaning device that includes a cap that twist on to the medical implements and, when used, reliably disinfects a medical implement. In an infringement suit, the district court granted summary judgment of invalidity, finding the asserted claims obvious under 35 U.S.C. 103. The Federal Circuit reversed. The patent holder established a genuine dispute over whether one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to add a vent to the disinfecting cap described in prior art.
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