Partially Overlapping Claim Terms Are Not Necessarily Redundant
In Smith & Nephew, Inc. v. Hologic, the Federal Circuit looked at U.S. Patent No. 7,226,459. Smith & Nephew owns the ’459 patent, entitled “Reciprocating Rotary Arthroscopic Surgical Instrument.” The opinion includes an interesting discussion on the construction of claim 1 of the '459 patent. Claim 1 recites: A surgical instrument, comprising: a cutting member including an implement for cutting tissue; and a drive coupled to the cutting member to simultaneously rotate, tran