Ruling keeps the principle of assignor estoppel in place, but restricts its use to situations where an inventor’s claims in court directly contradict those in the patent.

The ruling keeps the principle of assignor estoppel in place, but limits its use to situations where an inventor’s claims in court directly contradict those in the patent.

Device financing decreased to $734 million in Q3, less than half the Q2 total, and the $4.9 billion in M&As was a sharp decline versus Q2. Diagnostics fundraising, at $399 million, showed a 31% drop from Q2, and Merck KGAA’s $16.7 billion buy of Sigma-Aldrich made up 96% of the Q3 M&A activity.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, a premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding Deals column provides a  monthly review of emerging In Vitro  Diagnostic, Medical Device, and Pharmaceutical companies that have received venture funding. This month’s column covers deals announced September through October 2014.