When we look at the issued patents for fusion cages and spinal arthroplasty we can observe the following trends :-
By looking at the patent activity of the top inventors in the spinal device industry, we can abstract a number of interesting trends.
In today’s fiercely competitive intellectual property market, patent disputes are a norm especially in the booming medical device industry. It is important for companies to patent their technologies or to acquire license of the patents in order to sustain a lucrative market share and to maximize revenues using the patented technologies. A recent dispute between Medtronic, a large medical device company in the U.S. and Dr. Michelson was settled for a staggering US $ 1.3 billion. This was the highest settlement related to patents, surpassing the thumping settlement of US $ 909 million between Kodak and Polaroid for claims with regards to instant photography patents in 1990.
