The United States Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit agreed with the US district court for the central district of California that, in the case of Ottobock Healthcare LP v. Össur HF and Össur Americas Inc, Össur did not infringe on Ottobock’s 6,726,726 the (’726 patent) or breach settlement on patented technology incorporated into Ottobock’s Harmony and Triton Harmony vacuum systems.
In June 2013, Ottobock filed suit against Össur claiming the company was infringing on its’726 patent by importing, selling and offering for sale and use in the United States the Iceross Seal-In V liner, the Re-Flex Rotate Foot or Re-Flex Shock and the Unity vacuum pump module and valve. Ottobock specifically claimed Össur’s products had the same “seal means” and “means to maintain a vacuum” as Ottobock’s ’726 patent.
However, both the district court and federal circuit agreed that Össur’s products do not perform “the same sealing function in substantially the same way as the annular seal disclosed in the ’726 patent.” The courts also concluded “that Össur’s unity module and the weight-actuated vacuum pump as disclosed in the ‘274 application were neither structurally identical nor equivalent.”
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