Especially medical device companies rely on the commercialization relationships created by patents to get products into the market

The narrative drawn from existing empirical data and confirmed by interviews I conducted with professionals from small and mid-sized medical device companies, is consistent with the theoretical understanding of the importance of patents to information exchange throughout the innovative process. Truly groundbreaking medical devices often originate with small companies. These emerging companies frequently rely on investment funding as well as alliances with larger companies to manufacture and market their products, and their commercialization partners often rely on intellectual property to prevent expropriation by third parties and ensure exclusivity. Small medical device companies typically depend on patents to exchange information about their innovative devices in an industry with a small number of investors where a few dozen companies dominate.