United States: CAFC Remands For Further Fact-Finding On Public Accessibility Of A Video And Presentation Asserted As Prior Art In Medtronic v. Barry

In Medtronic, Inc. v. Barry, Nos. 17-1169, 17-1170 (Fed. Cir. June 11, 2018), the CAFC vacated the PTAB's conclusion that a video and presentation describing techniques for spinal derotation surgery were insufficiently publicly accessible to qualify as printed publications, and remanded for further fact-finding.  Notably, the video and presentation had not been stored for public access following the conferences.  The CAFC instructed the PTAB to further analyze, on remand, (1) the size and nature of the conferences, (2) whether the conferences were open to people interested in the subject matter disclosed, and (3) whether an expectation of confidentiality of the materials existed.  Further discussion of the decision can be found on Finnegan's Federal Circuit IP Blog.

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