In Barry v. Medtronic, Inc., No. 17-2463 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 24, 2019), the CAFC majority affirmed the district court's findings that Dr. Barry's system and method claims were not invalid and that Medtronic infringed. The invention was not ready for patenting prior to the critical date, eliminating both the public use and on sale bars, and up to the critical date, there was only experimental use, not public use or sale. The CAFC held "experimental use negates invalidity under the public use bar." The case involved two patents related to a spine correction device and related surgical methods. Further discussion of the decision can be found on Finnegan's Prosecution First Blog.
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