Medical Device Patents Surging, Industry Players Forecast The Future

The need to protect intellectual property (IP) via patents has become an increasingly vital concern for the design process, business strategy, worth, and growth of all medical device companies, from garage-based start-ups to large publicly held companies. And, as the need for innovative, cost-effective technologies in health care has surged, so has the current and projected patent activity in this space, influenced in part by the recent significant changes in the US patent system under the America Invents Act (AIA). In fact, the number of device patents issued grew at a 15.7% rate between 2010 and 2012, with 60,300 patents assigned during this time period, according to the newly released fourth annual "State of Innovation" report by business information and news provider Thomson Reuters. What's more, the device category exhibited the strongest growth rate of the 12 key technology areas examined using the Thomson Reuters Derwent World Patents Index (DWPISM) database.