Invalidity dossier
US 11844921
Hemostasis valves and methods of use
Current assignee: Stryker Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 2:37:12 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 11,844,921 B2
Title: Hemostasis valves and methods of use
Patent number: US 11,844,921 B2
Application number: US 17/226,318
Current assignee: Inari Medical, Inc.
Inventors: Benjamin E. Merritt, John C. Thress, Paul Lubock
Priority date: 2017-09-06
Filing date: 2021-04-09
Publication date: 2023-12-19
Status (per source): Active; adjusted expiration 2040-01-08
Purpose (from the supplied excerpt)
The patent concerns hemostasis valves that facilitate minimally invasive surgery. Catheters are equipped with hemostasis valves that seal or selectably seal the catheter lumen—both when a tool extends through the valve and when a tool is removed or absent.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied excerpt)
The described valve includes a pliable elongate member having a first end, a second end, and a central lumen extending between them. A reinforcement structure extends along at least a portion of the elongate member and is coupled to it. An active tensioning mechanism is coupled to the elongate member and is movable between a first configuration, in which the central lumen is constricted and sealed, and a second configuration, in which the central lumen is open. The tensioning mechanism can include at least one filament extending around at least a portion of the tubular member; manipulating the tensioning mechanism causes the filament to interact with the tubular member to constrict, collapse, and/or seal it. The valve may be manually adjusted to intermediate positions between fully open and fully closed.
Stated advantages include sealing around a wide range of tool sizes and shapes, sealing around multiple tools of differing sizes simultaneously, and maintaining a seal under vacuum, such as during aspiration.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US11844921/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not include the full claims, the complete written description, drawing descriptions, or the prior-art references cited. It therefore does not establish the precise metes and bounds of the claimed invention, the full list of embodiments, or the specific prior art distinguished. No independent verification of dates, inventorship, or status is possible from this excerpt alone.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:52:08 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.