Medtronic Beats Back Axonics’ Challenge To InterStim Patents

The US patent office has upheld all seven patents at issue, with the verdict on the final three having come on 22 September.

A Biblical-style slingshot and pile of rocks rest on a wooden table.
• Source: Alamy

If Axonics Modulation Technologies, Inc.'s attempt to challenge sacral neuromodulation patents held byMedtronic plc made for a medtech David versus Goliath story, then the US Patent and Trademark Office’s rulings in the case were a knockout blow for the Minnesota medical device giant.

The Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) announced on 22 September that it would uphold the final three patents that...

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