Tissue Transplant Technology Ltd. and Human Biologics of Texas Ltd. (“the Petitioners”) recently filed a petition with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board requesting inter partes review of U.S. Patent No. 8,597,687 (“the ’687 Patent”).  The petition states that the ’687 Patent is owned by MiMedx Group, Inc. (“MiMedx”). According to the USPTO Assignment Database, the ’687 Patent was assigned to MiMedx by Surgical Biologics, LLC. on May 10, 2013.

The ’687 Patent is entitled “Methods For Determining The Orientation Of A Tissue Graft,” and the sole listed inventor is John Daniel.  The ’687 Patent states that it “relates generally to tissue allografts and, in particular, to placental membrane tissue grafts (amnion and chorion) and methods of preparing, preserving, and medical uses for the same.”  Figure 5 from the ’687 Patent is shown to the right.

The petition seeks review of all seven of the ’687 Patent’s claims.  The petition discloses that the ’687 Patent has been asserted by MiMedx against the Petitioners in a lawsuit filed on May 16, 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.  The first amended complaint, filed on June 26, 2014, alleges that the Petitioners infringe the ’687 Patent, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 8,709,494 by making, using, offering to sell or selling the SteriShield™ and/or Cygnus Solo™ tissue graft products.