U.S. Patent 8444036 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2013-05-21 and describes a “Motor driven surgical fastener device with mechanisms for adjusting a tissue gap within the end effector.” This patent has been cited 267 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 fastener apparatus having a handle, an elongated shaft having a proximal end attached to the handle and a distal end extending therefrom. An end effector including a pair of jaws pivoted at a proximal end thereof and movable between an open and closed position. A cartridge containing a plurality of surgical fasteners, the cartridge attached to the end effector. An electrically powered actuator for deploying the surgical fasteners, the actuator including a power source and a motor. Means for electrically adjusting the amount of spacing between the jaws when the end effector is in the closed position. Link: U.S. Patent 8444036

This patent was originally filed on 2010-07-29 which gives it a processing time of 1027 days, compared to an average processing time of 983 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Frederick E. Shelton, IV of Hillsboro, OR. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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