S
Interference No. 104,290
although the ablation apparatus would be physically smaller.
Id. Fox describes the ablation apparatus in paragraph 4 of
Exhibit 1173. Fox states that the "curved wire electrodes
. . . would be deployed through a cannula by holding the cannula
In use, the cannula shaft can be held by a forceps or
the operator's fingers. LR31, 47. Notwithstanding Edwards'
argument that the cannula is not a handle, we construe the count
term "handle" broadly, and note that the cannula can be held with
a portion of the operator's hand.
LeVeen gave Fox a Dormier basket with which Fox was to
fashion a prototype of the invention. LX-1173, $5. A Dormier
basket is a surgical instrument used to retrieve concretions such
as kidney stones or gallstones. LR91. LX-1127 is a photograph
of a Dormier basket. The distal end of the Dormier basket was
cut off, and the stainless steel spring wires were everted.
LeVeen sketched this shape of the wires in EX-5144. The sketch
shows that the four stainless steel wires were bent generally in
the shape of one-half of a hyperboloid with the open end of the
hyperboloid positioned distally. The everted wires of the basket
become the deployable electrodes when the probe is inserted in
a cannula. The cannula used on the orototype was 16 gauge.
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