The Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that Medtronic Inc. and Medtronic Vascular Inc. didn’t show that challenged claims of Teleflex Innovations S.À.R.L.'s patents directed to guide extension catheters that use a tapered inner catheter that runs over a standard coronary guidewire, to reduce the likelihood that a guide catheter will dislodge from the coronary artery’s opening, are unpatentable over prior art. The court affirmed the board’s determination that a reference doesn’t qualify as prior art under pre-AIA first-to-invent provisions.
