Interference No. 104,192
Cragg v. Martin v. Fogarty
59. A bifurcated prosthesis for use
with an angeological bifurcation of a blood
vessel into two branched vessels comprising
a bifurcated proximal portion adapted to be
disposed within said blood vessel, a distal
portion adapted to extend across the
bifurcation into one of the branched
vessels, and a separate distal segment
joined to said proximal portion and adapted
to allow blood to flow from the proximal
portion into the other branched vessel.
Goicoechea has not shown that claim 59 requires
that whenever the proximal portion is placed within
the blood vessel, the first distal portion is
already attached to the proximal portion and
extending from the blood vessel into a branched
vessel and the second distal segment is not yet
joined to the proximal portion. Indeed, claim 59 is
broad enough to cover the case of two short-legs,
i.e., the proximal portion is introduced into the
blood vessel first, and then the first distal
portion and the second distal segment are introduced
in sequence, each extending into a respective
branched blood vessel.
For the foregoing reasons, the patentable
distinction argued by Goicoechea does not exist with
respect to at least Goicoechea’s independent claim
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