Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. v. Covidien, Inc., No. 14-1370 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 7, 2015)

From the Opinion

The passage below is extracted verbatim from the opening of the document. It has not been editorially summarized — consult the full opinion for the court's complete reasoning.

Plaintiffs-appellants Ethicon Endo -Surgery, Inc. and Ethicon Endo -Surgery, LLC (collectively, Ethicon) sued defendants-appellees Covidien, Inc. and Covidien LP (collectively, Covidien) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio for alleged infringement of several utility and design patents related to ultrasonic surgical devices. After the close of discovery, the district court granted Covidien’s motions for summary ju dgment, concluding that 1) U.S. Patent No. 8,182,501 (the ’501 patent) is invalid as indefinite , 2) U.S. Patent No.