Medical Devices and Technology

Our attorneys who handle medical device and technology patent applications specialise in this subject matter. They thus have extensive experience in handling a very wide range of such applications before patent offices around the world, especially before the European Patent Office (EPO), including the EPO Opposition Divisions and Technical Boards of Appeal.

This specialism brings with it benefits. Strong familiarity with the relevant case law and with medical technology itself can make a significant difference to the outcome of patent prosecution in this specialist area. At first sight the Article 53(c) EPC prohibition on obtaining a patent for “methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body” may appear to be terminal to many medical method patent applications in Europe.

However, in many cases appropriate claim drafting and argumentation can result in allowable medical method claims. Our clients in this area range from the smallest of startups to some of the largest global medical technology companies. These clients cover many diverse technology fields such as blood processing, an extremely wide range of intravascular devices, injectors and other drug administration devices, medical imaging and monitoring, spinal devices, stents, surgical instruments and instrumentation, wearables, biological informatics and biosensors.