Judge Burke Orders Parties to Reduce Number of Asserted Claims and Prior Art Grounds

November 13, 2017

Publication| Intellectual Property

In Integra LifeSciences Corp. v. Hyperbranch Medical Technology, Inc., C.A. No. 15-819-LPS-CJB (Oct. 2, 2017), Magistrate Judge Burke ordered the plaintiffs to reduce the number of asserted claims to 12, drawn from the 6 asserted patents, within a month; the defendant was ordered to reduce its asserted prior art grounds to 16 within 6 days of the plaintiffs’ narrowing of claims. Reports and recommendations on claim construction had been issued, and the parties were in expert discovery.

Key Point: In ordering the defendant to reduce the number of “prior art grounds,” Magistrate Judge Burke had earlier explained during a hearing that a “prior art ground” referred either to a single prior art reference (which could be used both to anticipate or render obvious a claim or claims) or a single combination of references.

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