U.S. Patent 8220690 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2012-07-17 and describes a “Connected surgical staples and stapling instruments for deploying the same.” This patent has been cited 310 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

A surgical stapling system comprising a first staple, a second staple, and a bridge connecting the first staple and the second staple. In at least one embodiment, the first staple and the second staple are part of a strip of staples. For example, the first and second staples can be included in a strip of staples that includes several staples that are attached end-to-end and/or attached side-by side. In use, the strip, or strips, of staples are inserted into a stapler which can be used to insert the staples into soft tissue, for example, and deform at least a portion of the staples to hold the tissue, or several layers of tissue, together. Link: U.S. Patent 8220690

This patent was originally filed on 2006-09-29 which gives it a processing time of 2118 days, compared to an average processing time of 1218 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Eugene L. Timperman of Cincinnati, OH. The assistant examiner was Gloria R Weeks.

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