Do you need protection for inventions in the field of medicine or medical technology?
Then you are in good company: Patents in the field of medicine or medical technology (referred to as MedTech for short, as the two fields overlap) remain attractive for industry, but also for universities and service providers: With approximately 16,000 patent applications filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2023, medical technology is considered the second most innovative industry there. This figure has grown by approximately 1.3 percent compared to the previous year and by more than 40 percent over the past ten years. This is not surprising, as the demand for medical care has been rising for a long time, partly due to increasing life expectancy and higher privately financed care for patients. In addition, the majority of products for medical use require a higher initial investment due to their high technical complexity, high safety requirements, costly approval procedures, etc. The comparatively high costs and investments involved in this require special protection through patent protection.
Advice from medical technicians and doctors – is that possible?
To protect your MedTech invention from imitation, either domestically or worldwide, you are in good hands with Bobbert & Partner; our attorneys have been protecting inventions in this field for over two decades, and products protected by us can be found in most clinics in this country. Our attorneys are familiar with the environment in which your invention will be used from their own work as physicians (in renowned hospitals in Germany, Spain, the UK, and the US) and are also familiar with the predecessor products to your invention from their own use. In short: we speak your language.
But when it comes to the legal specifics of inventions in the medical field, you and your invention are in very good hands at Bobbert & Partner. For example, medical procedures are excluded from patenting in most jurisdictions, such as the German Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, and numerous others. Nevertheless, it is often possible to patent them with special knowledge of the relevant case law and the fine line between medical and non-medical procedures, as well as the necessary experience. It is the wording of the application, and in particular its claims, that determines whether a procedural invention is a medical or a non-medical procedure. However, this is a daily task for our attorneys. We therefore invite you to put us to the test, especially when it comes to protecting MedTech inventions.