Invalidity dossier
US 8858518
Canister for autologous fat transfer
Current assignee: Solta Medical Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 1:56:36 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 8,858,518 B2
Title: "Canister for autologous fat transfer"
Patent number / application: US 8,858,518 B2; Application US 13/402,778; pre-grant publication US 2012/0271254 A1.
Inventors: Mark E. Schafer; Wayne A. Siebrecht; Constantino G. Mendieta; Kevin J. Hight; Adnan I. Merchant.
Assignee of record (per source): Original assignee Sound Surgical Technologies LLC; current assignee listed as Solta Medical Inc, with the source cautioning that the listed assignees may be inaccurate and that no analysis of ownership was made. Inventors Schafer, Siebrecht, and Hight are recorded as assigning to Sound Surgical Technologies LLC (2012-09-19), and Merchant likewise (2012-09-24).
Key dates: Priority date 2011-02-22; filing date 2012-02-22; publication of US 2014-10-14; anticipated expiration 2032-02-22. Legal status: Expired – Fee Related (as stated; the source notes status is an assumption only).
Purpose and plain-language scope: The document concerns a canister used in autologous fat transfer — that is, handling a patient's own fat. The classification record places it in suction/pumping devices for medical purposes, specifically containers for suction drainage used with an external suction source, and within "suction aspects of liposuction" including reinjection of collected fat and treatment of collected fat. The description vocabulary emphasizes filtration, separation, fluid/liquid handling, communication between ports, harvesting, tissue, blood, adipocytes, liposuction, and injection procedures. In plain terms, the claimed subject matter appears directed to a canister that receives harvested fat-containing material, allows fluid and unwanted material to be separated or filtered from the fat, and permits the fat to be collected and communicated onward for transfer — consistent with the stated "transfer," "filtration," "liquid," and "fluid" claim concepts.
What this excerpt does not establish: It does not provide the actual claims, abstract, full description, or drawings; it does not establish the precise structure of the canister, specific filter or port arrangements, or claim limitations. It also does not establish validity, enforceability, infringement, litigation, or the accuracy of the assignee or legal-status data.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8858518/en (fetched 2026-09-23).
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:52:43 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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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
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.