U.S. Patent 8348972 was awarded to Covidien LP on 2013-01-08 and describes a “Surgical staple with augmented compression area.” This patent has been cited 266 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 multi-part surgical staple assembly is provided to provide uniform compression across stapled tissues. The staple assembly generally includes a staple, a staple plate positionable against a backspan of the staple for engagement with one side of a stapled tissue section and a platen for receipt of tissue penetrating tips of the staple and engageable with an opposite side of a stapled tissue section. The staple plate and platen are provided with holes to receive the legs of the staple. In one embodiment, the staple plate is provided with a biasing member to bias the staple plate away from the backspan of the staple and toward the stapled tissue. Link: U.S. Patent 8348972

This patent was originally filed on 2008-06-24 which gives it a processing time of 1659 days, compared to an average processing time of 1639 in the field. Covidien LP has 3582 total patents. The first named inventor is Henry E. Holsten of Covington, GA. The primary examiner was Vy Q Bui.

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