A Look at AI & MedTech Patents in the UK and Europe
by Daniel Brodsky
Partner & Patent Attorney at Mewburn Ellis LLP, Specialist in MedTech, Software/AI
daniel.brodsky@mewburn.com
LinkedIn
With rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), we are seeing the emergence of a wide range of AI-based technologies in the MedTech sector, promising significant benefits in terms of patient care and treatment outcomes. A major advantage of AI algorithms is their ability to leverage traits learned from large volumes of data, enabling them to greatly enhance medical practitioners’ capabilities in a variety of ways. A key area of development is in AI-based health monitoring and diagnostics, where the AI algorithms can be used to analyse patient data to assist in identifying medical conditions and providing recommendations.
We recently published a report (link below) which looks at the AI & MedTech sector and what we can learn from patent filings in this area. As one might expect, there has been a recent sharp increase in patent filings for AI inventions in MedTech, highlighting that this is a rapidly growing sector with a strong focus on innovation. Many of the larger MedTech companies are already represented in the top 10 applicants for AI & MedTech inventions at the European Patent Office (EPO) – Philips, Siemens, Samsung. Interestingly however, patent filing statistics show that much of the innovation in this area is driven by smaller entities – start-ups, SMEs, and universities. Due to the relative youth of this field and the fact that patent filings are only just starting to take off, there is scope for companies of any size to have a significant impact, making this a particularly exciting field to be working in at the moment.
So, for companies working at the interface between AI and MedTech, there is a strong opportunity to protect IP around their inventions and establish their position in this new and rapidly evolving field. As the field keeps growing, a pro-active IP strategy will be essential to remain competitive and fully capitalise on investments in research and development.
From a patents perspective, the cross-over between AI and MedTech is a highly specialised area of the law. This is because it involves the interplay between rules around patenting software inventions on the one hand, and the patenting of medical techniques on the other. In the report, we take a look at some of the types of AI invention that can be patented in MedTech, and the main considerations for patentability in this area. In essence, the AI model must be claimed as part of a technical application (as opposed to claiming the model in the abstract), with the claim reflecting how a particular technical problem is solved. We further explore in this blog how patentability exclusions around medical methods can be navigated to allow protection of AI inventions in MedTech. In general, inventions will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, to determine an optimal strategy for their protection.
You can read our full report on AI & MedTech patents here. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to discuss further!