The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for a medical article for fixation of a wound dressing, assigned to Paul Hartmann AG of Heidenheim, Germany. The application was filed on 23 January 2023 and issued on 8 September 2026.

The inventors named on the patent are Marc Sanchez of Barcelona, Spain; Fernando Gonzalez Gómez-Arevalillo of Barcelona, Spain; Marina Ciupke of Königsbronn-Zang, Spain; and Axel Eckstein of Heidenheim, Germany.

What does the patent cover?

The claimed article is a multilayer construction built on four functional components:

• A nonwoven backing layer with a defined top side and bottom side, forming the structural base of the fixation article.
• A first plastic film layer, attached at its top side to the bottom side of the nonwoven backing, providing a barrier between the nonwoven and the adhesive.
• An adhesive silicone gel layer, attached at its top side to the bottom side of the first plastic film layer, delivering skin-friendly fixation of the wound dressing.
• A protection layer releasably attached to the bottom side of the silicone gel, removed by the clinician before application.

The construction places HARTMANN squarely in the nonwovens supply chain as a converter: the patent claim anchors the nonwoven backing as the load-bearing tier of the product, laminated to film and silicone gel downstream.

What is distinctive about the release liner?

The protection layer itself carries the patent's most specific feature. It comprises a second plastic film layer with a single wave-shaped cut line running along its length extension. The second film layer is transparent, and a colored tape is attached to the bottom side of the film along that wave-shaped cut line. The cut line also penetrates the colored tape.

This geometry addresses a familiar converting problem: splitting and removing a release liner from a soft silicone gel adhesive without stressing the adhesive surface. The wave-shaped cut, made visible by the contrasting colored tape beneath the transparent film, gives the clinician a defined peel line for two-handed liner removal. Converters producing medical release liners and tape components will recognise the claim as covering the die-cut geometry, not merely the material stack.

Why does this matter for suppliers?

The patent confirms HARTMANN's continued investment in fixation products adjacent to its wound care portfolio, and it defines the claim boundary that competing converters must design around. The relevant tiers are:

• Nonwoven producers supplying the backing layer for medical-grade fixation articles.
• Film extruders supplying transparent release films capable of holding a wave-shaped cut line.
• Adhesive coaters working with silicone gel chemistry laminated to film and nonwoven substrates.

The filing dates give a clear timeline: HARTMANN's Barcelona- and Heidenheim-based R&D team filed the application in January 2023, and the patent issued roughly three years and eight months later.

What decision does this force?

For converters and material suppliers in the medical fixation segment, the issued claim sets a design-around constraint on any silicone-gel fixation article combining a nonwoven backing, a film interlayer, and a wave-cut transparent release liner with colored tape. Suppliers already shipping wave-cut liners to competing wound-care brands should review their die-cut configurations against the claim language with counsel before quoting new programs.