MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG) announced today the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) has ruled in favor of the Company’s primary EpiFix® and AmnioFix® patents.
In April 2014, MiMedx filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Liventa Bioscience, Inc., Medline Industries, Inc. and Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, Inc. for permanent injunctive relief and unspecified damages. In May 2014, the Company also filed a separate action against Transplant Technology, Inc. d/b/a Bone Bank Allograft and Texas Human Biologics Ltd. for patent infringement.
In both suits, MiMedx asserted that these organizations infringed and continue to infringe at least six MiMedx patents. As part of their defense strategy, two of the four defendants submitted certain of the MiMedx patents to the inter partes review process, which means they are asking the PTAB to review the subject matter covered by the MiMedx patents and decide whether it was proper for the patents to have been granted in the first place.
In general, the inter partes review process works as follows: If the PTAB rejects the request for inter partes review, it essentially means that the PTAB found no basis to challenge the patent on obvious or anticipation grounds. If the PTAB grants inter partes review, it means that the PTAB has found that it is worth reviewing the patent, but by no means is it an indication in and of itself that there is something wrong with the subject patent.
MiMedx received two recent rulings from the PTAB. One PTAB ruling was made in regard the inter partes review request related to the MiMedx primary EpiFix patent and the other recent PTAB decision was for the inter partes review request related to the MiMedx AmnioFix patent. In both rulings, the PTAB found no basis to challenge these patents and fully rejected the request for review on these patents.
Parker H. “Pete” Petit, Chairman and CEO said, “This victory means that the key patents for both of our flagship brands, EpiFix and AmnioFix, have withstood the scrutiny of the request for inter partes review, and they stand unaltered by the PTAB.”
Bill Taylor, President and COO, added, “It is important to note that inter partes review is granted by the PTAB in 93% of the cases in which it is requested by defendants. Therefore, it is extremely common for inter partes review to be granted. These rulings to not grant these customary reviews are a testimony to the strength we have created to protect the Company’s intellectual property.”
