Intellectual Property Rights in Healthcare-related AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing healthcare, offering breakthroughs in diagnostics, drug discovery, patient management, and personalized medicine. However, the development and commercialization of AI healthcare technologies are not just about algorithms and data, they are deeply intertwined with a complex web of intellectual property (IP) rights. It is sometimes challenging to put it together, but understanding what these rights are and how they work together is essential for innovators, investors, and policymakers seeking to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare-related AI.

Healthcare-related AI innovations are rarely protected by a single form of IP. Instead, they are typically shielded by a bundle of rights, each covering different aspects of the technology. This bundle includes patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and trademarks, among others. Each plays a unique role in safeguarding innovation, enabling commercialization, and fostering competition. In this article, we will highlight some of the more commonly used IP assets in the healthcare-related space. It should also be noted that IP rights relating to AI vary widely across jurisdictions, and the purpose of this article is to try to give a broad overview of some of the considerations when viewing IP and AI.

Patents are perhaps the most visible form of protection for Healthcare-related AI. They grant inventors exclusive rights to novel and non-obvious inventions.

AI-related inventions in patent applications must meet the criteria of novelty and inventiveness, in addition to being capable of industrial application. For example:

Innovative algorithms include new methods for analyzing medical images, predicting patient outcomes, or optimizing treatments.

Health monitoring devices incorporating AI deep learning (e.g. a device for predicting and monitoring blood glucose using AI).

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