Patenting and Implementation of Medical Technologies in Russia: Theoretical and Practical Aspects

Abstract

The paper examines the legal regulation of medical technologies in the context of patenting inventions. The problematic issues raised in this study are of a systemic nature, in connection with which the need for a substantive analysis of the definition of «medical technology» through its components — medical method and method — is argued and the need for their consolidation in the legislation on health protection is justified. The author elucidates the concept of medical technologies in foreign legal systems and explains the absence of the need to borrow foreign experience. Based on the analysis of patents issued in the Russian Federation for methods and ways of treatment, it is concluded that the current legal regulation allows patenting medical technologies as a complex object, while making appropriate changes to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation will eliminate discrepancies existing in law enforcement practice. An integrated approach has made it possible to identify a number of systemic causes that hinder the effective implementation of innovations in practical medicine; ways to eliminate them are proposed.