'Alice' In Patent Land: Finding Patentable Digital Health Innovations Is No Easy Task

While the mobile health sector and digital health in general is poised for a major boom, a 2014 case, Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, continues to be a major hurdle for manufacturers wanting to patent their software. While there are some recent positive trends, attorneys recommend caution and proactive steps to make the best of the current patent environment.

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Digital-health companies must adopt proactive, creative patent strategies, including an approach that emphasizes hardware even if software is the innovation, in the current challenging intellectual property environment, attorneys say. A primary reason for the challenges is a case called "Alice."

According to legal experts, the precedents from that case could make it very hard for new device-makers in the digital...

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