U.S. Patent 7651017 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2010-01-26 and describes a “Surgical stapler with a bendable end effector.” This patent has been cited 345 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 stapler having a selectively bendable end effector is provided. A staple holding jaw of the end effector is coupled to another jaw for grasping tissue to be stapled. The stapler can adapted to drive staples into tissue having a pattern conforming with the selected shape of the end effector. In particular, the end effector can be adapted to drive staples in a linear pattern when the end effector orients staples in a substantially linear configuration. The end effector can also be adapted to drive staples in a non linear pattern when the end effector orients staples in a non linear configuration. Methods of stapling tissue with a stapler having a bendable end effector are also discussed. Link: U.S. Patent 7651017

This patent was originally filed on 2005-11-23 which gives it a processing time of 1525 days, compared to an average processing time of 1244 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Mark S. Ortiz of Milford Charter Twp, MI. The primary examiner was Scott A. Smith.

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