U.S. Patent 8267300 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2012-09-18 and describes a “Dampening device for endoscopic surgical stapler.” This patent has been cited 329 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 instrument including a shaft and an end effector. The end effector may comprise a first jaw and a second jaw. The first jaw may be movable relative to the second jaw between an open configuration and a closed configuration. The surgical instrument may comprise a closure assembly which may be operably engaged with the first jaw. The closure assembly may comprise a closure trigger and a dampening system. The closure trigger may be configured to be actuated from a first position to a second position to close the first jaw. The dampening system may be configured to retard the opening of the closure trigger. The dampening system may comprise an aperture configured to receive the projection at a first end of the aperture and a seal configured to form a fluid seal between said projection and said aperture sidewall. Link: U.S. Patent 8267300

This patent was originally filed on 2009-12-30 which gives it a processing time of 993 days, compared to an average processing time of 1080 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Chad P. Boudreaux of Cincinnati, OH. The primary examiner was Lindsay Low.

Select Patents monitors top medical technology patents and instruments patents which have been allowed and granted worldwide. If you would like legal advice regarding a patent or would like to file a patent go to https://selectpatents.wpengine.com/contact/