Invalidity dossier
US 5385679
Solid state conductive polymer compositions, biomedical electrodes containing such compositions, and method of preparing same
Current assignee: 3M Co
Added 9/23/2026, 4:57:51 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 5,385,679 A
Title: Solid state conductive polymer compositions, biomedical electrodes containing such compositions, and method of preparing same
Assignee/Inventor: Original assignee Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.; current assignee listed as 3M Co. Inventors: Rosa Uy and Timothy M. Dietz.
Dates: Priority date 1991-11-15; application US08/101,812 filed 1993-07-30; granted/publication 1995-01-31; anticipated expiration 2012-01-31; legal status: Expired – Lifetime.
Purpose: The invention addresses a persistent problem in biomedical electrodes: conventional conductive media (gel electrolytes and polyelectrolytes) depend on water for ionic conductivity, making them susceptible to dehydration and to performance changes from absorbed atmospheric moisture. The patent states the invention achieves solid state conductive polymer compositions that are ionically-conductive regardless of the amount of water present during manufacture, storage, or use. Water is accommodated but not required.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied text): A composition comprises a polymer electrolyte complex—a solid solution of an ionic salt dissolved in a solvating polymer, where the polymer dissociates the salt to form a cation–polymer complex and counterion—and, if the complex is not cohesive and pliable, an essentially non-volatile plasticizer in an amount sufficient to render it cohesive and pliable. The solvating polymer may be a homopolymer with at least one ionizing non-carbon atom per monomeric unit, or a copolymer with at least one such monomeric unit bearing a pendant ionizing non-carbon atom. Such compositions can serve as the conductive medium in a biomedical electrode, which further comprises means for electrical communication to diagnostic, therapeutic, or electrosurgical equipment. Uses named include TENS, NMS, defibrillation, electrosurgery dispersive electrodes, and ECG. The patent also describes a method of preparing a non-volatile, solid state conductive polymer composition.
Not established by the excerpt: The claims (all claim numbers and language), the full method steps (the text is truncated mid-sentence at "mixing a solvating polymer, an io…"), examples, figures, cited prior-art references and their discussion, and prosecution or legal-status conclusions. No litigation, ownership-transfer, or validity information is reported.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:43:59 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
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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.