The Federal Circuit recently issued a precedential decision in Shockwave Med., Inc. v. Cardiovascular Sys., Inc. (CSI), affirming-in-part and reversing-in-part the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision, and ultimately invalidated the patent at issue.  The patent, Shockwave’s U.S. Patent No. 8,956,371, relates to an angioplasty catheter for treating atherosclerosis with intravascular lithotripsy (IVL). 

On July 16, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued new guidance on the patentability of AI-related inventions. Although the USPTO emphasized that its guidance does not change the law of 35 U.S.C. § 101, patent applicants and patent litigation defendants are likely to scrutinize the guidance for insights that will help them secure (or as the case may be, to invalidate) new AI-related patents.