U.S. Patent 7832612 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2010-11-16 and describes a “Lockout arrangement for a surgical stapler.” This patent has been cited 490 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 instrument including a latch for securing first and second jaw members together, a cutting member which can be advanced and/or retracted relative to first and second jaw members, and, in addition, a lock which can prevent, or at least inhibit, the cutting member from being moved, or at least advanced, relative to the first and second jaw members before the latch has been closed. In at least one embodiment, the latch can be configured to engage the lock as the latch is moved from a fully open position to a fully closed position and operably disengage the lock from the cutting member. Link: U.S. Patent 7832612

This patent was originally filed on 2008-09-19 which gives it a processing time of 788 days, compared to an average processing time of 1097 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is James J. Bedi of Cincinnati, OH. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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