In inter partes review proceedings Austrian cochlear implant maker MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geräte Ges.m.b.H. brought against its competitor Advanced Bionics, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board determined all 24 claims of Advanced Bionics’s U.S. Patent 8,155,746 unpatentable. The PTAB had granted two successive petitions for review of the ‘746 patent, and eventually consolidated the two proceedings. In a 140-page Final Written Decision, the PTAB agreed with MED-EL that all 24 claims of the ‘746 patent were obvious in light of the prior art.

MED-EL was represented by Georg Reitboeck and Brian Murphy of Haug Partners LLP.