Patent Analytics Report on Knee Problems, Diagnosis and Treatment

Introduction

The knee joint joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two articulations: one between the femur and tibia, and one between the femur and patella. It is the largest joint in the human body and is very complicated.Knee is a pivotal hinge joint, which permits flexion and extension as well as a slight medial and lateral rotation. Since in humans the knee supports nearly the whole weight of the body, it is vulnerable to various
injuries. Knee is a hinge type synovial joint, which is composed of three functional compartments: the femoropatellar articulation consists of the
patella, or “kneecap”, and the patellar groove on the front of the femur through which it slides; and the medial and lateral femorotibial articulations linking the femur, or thigh bone, with the tibia, the main bone of the lower leg. The joint is bathed in synovial fluid which is contained inside the synovial membrane called the joint capsule. The crutiate ligament is an area that has recently been the subject of renewed scrutiny and research. In this report, we focus on the patents covering knee ailments, diagnostic methods and treatments involved.Our search strategy as shown in next section highlights the same. With the help of Patent iNSIGHT Pro, we will analyze the patent data around Knee Problems to
find answers to the following:

• What does the IP publication trend for knee anatomy look like and how have the filings evolved?
• Who are the top assignees or key players in knee anatomy and what are their technology wise trends?
• How is research in knee anatomy spread across different countries?
• How is assignee portfolio spread across various knee problem areas?
• How is the assignee portfolio spread across different diagnostic methods?
• How is assignee portfolio spread across various treatment procedures?
• How do the key diagnostic methods compare across various knee problem areas?
• How are different kinds of treatments related to different problem areas?

To get deeper insights the patent set has been classified as follows:

The illustration below shows the different categories prepared and the number of records in each.The categorization involved defining a search strategy for each topic and then conducting the search using the Advanced Searching capability in Patent iNSIGHT Pro. Details of search
strings used for each category are given in Appendix B.

Publication Trend

What has been the IP publication trend for knee anatomy?

Patents related to knee anatomy can be traced back to 1951 and the real surge in the activity around this technology has happened in the last 5 years. Noticeably there was an increase in applications from 2008 onwards.

It’s clear the current activity around these technologies is likely to continue seeing more innovation in the near future.

Top Assignees

Who have been the top assignees or the key players within this area?

The top assignees are:

Top Countries

How is research around knee anatomy spread across different countries?

In terms of regional pockets where patent protection is being sought most frequently for these technologies, US leads the count, followed by GB and DE. The table below ranks top priority countries and helps provide an indication of where innovation in this area is originating:

Country Total
Code
US 901
GB 50
DE 38
EP 29
AU 22