Medical Devices Patents Team

The team has an experience in all the areas of Medical Devices and Procedures, including patents related to:

Cardiovascular & Pulmonary
Glucose Monitoring & Insulin Infusion
Hypertension Management Devices
Imaging
Nephrology & Dialysis Equipment
Ophthalmology & Eye Care
Prosthetics & Orthotics
Surgical Equipment
Ventilators

We specialize in securing patent protection for various medical devices and providing strategic IP counseling directed towards monetizing such assets. Our team of attorneys provides guidance in all stages of development through capital formation, transactional due diligence, patent landscape evaluation, strategic patent prosecution, medical device incidents, administrative proceedings, third party evaluations, IP audits and, when necessary, IP litigation.

Provisions under the Indian Law

Unlike the United States’ Patents Law, which grants protection to, both, product and procedure, the Indian law is modeled in tune with the European Patent regime wherein the methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods is not patentable. A clear manifestation of this is provided under Section 3(i) of the Patents Act, 1970 which declares, “process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic diagnostic, therapeutic or other treatment of human beings or any process for a similar treatment of animals to render them free of disease or to increase their economic value or that of their products” is non-patentable.

Other than this, there is no expressed exclusion for the grant of patents for medical devices on fulfillment of requirements of Novelty, Inventive step and Industrial applicability as provided under Section 2 of the Patents Act.

Current Indian Scenario

The Indian Healthcare industry has increased in a huge proportion in the recent years. The Medical Device and Equipment Industry values at around US$ 5 billion according to recent figures and is expanding at an equally high rate. An increase in the number of Hospitals and healthcare facilities has created a need for sophisticated devices and equipment, which can provide accurate treatment to individuals. Understanding the ever-growing requirement of the medical devices in the healthcare sector, the Indian Government, recently, allowed 100% foreign direct investment into this sector. It has also come up with a Draft Regulation to oversee the country’s huge medical device industry.

At the same time, a current huge dependence of the present industry on imports, has allowed several foreign manufacturer to exploit the current market and in the process to obtain IP protection in India. Analysts believe the Indian medical devices market could touch US$50 billion by 2025, driven by a burgeoning middle class in need of more and better hospitals and clinics, which would require more medical devices.

Medical Devices Industry in India

Forms a critical segment of healthcare industry
Asia’s fourth largest market
Expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of around 15%
Still largely dominated by imports
Imported medical devices cater to around 70% of domestic demands
Undergoing transformational changes due to growing and ageing population
Greying population and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases will enhance demand of medical devices
Some of the leading Medical Device and Medical Electronics Companies Operating in India are:

Johnson & Johnson

India Medtronic

Becton Dickinson

Abbott Vascular

Bausch & Lomb

Baxter

Zimmer India

Edwards Life Sciences

Stryker

Boston Scientific

BPL Healthcare India

Sushrut Surgicals

Trivitron Diagnostics

Accurex Biomedical

Biopore Surgicals

Endomed Technologies

Forus Health

HD Medical Services (India)

Eastern Medikit

Nidhi Meditech System

Philips Medical

Wipro Technologies

HCL Technologies