In Maquet Cardiovascular LLC v. Abiomed Inc., No.
2023-2045 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 21, 2025), the Federal Circuit vacated a
judgment of non-infringement regarding Maquet's U.S. Patent
No. 10,238,783, ruling that the district court improperly narrowed
the claim scope by misapplying prosecution disclaimer.
Marquet asserted that Abiomed infringed certain claims of the
'783 patent directed to a system for deploying a blood pump
to a desired location in a patient's circulatory system. At
issue on appeal were the district court's claim construction
rulings related to three terms in the '783 patent. The
district court accepted Abiomed's arguments that prosecution
history from prior applications required reading negative
limitations into the claims—namely, that the claimed
“guide mechanism comprising a lumen” does not encompass
a lumen that is distal to a cannula or that passes through the
pump's rotor blades.