U.S. Patent 8485412 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2013-07-16 and describes a “Surgical staples having attached drivers and stapling instruments for deploying the same.” This patent has been cited 261 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 system including a driver and a staple where the driver is connected to the staple. In previous surgical stapling systems, the driver and the staple were not connected. A surgical stapling system in accordance with the present invention may have fewer components, less assembly and manufacturing time, and may accommodate larger staples which are at least partially embedded in the driver. In various embodiments, a surgical stapling system comprises a staple, the staple including a deformable member, and a stapler, the stapler including an anvil, a staple cartridge for removably storing the staple, and a cam movable between a first position and a second position. In these embodiments, the surgical stapling system further comprises a driver attached to the staple, the driver being operatively engaged with the cam to move the staple toward the anvil when the cam is moved between the first position and the second position. Link: U.S. Patent 8485412

This patent was originally filed on 2006-09-29 which gives it a processing time of 2482 days, compared to an average processing time of 1218 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Michael F. Clem of South Lebanon, OH. The primary examiner was Hemant M Desai.

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/