The neurotechnology patent landscape in a time of neuroethics

Patents in the domain of neurotechnology encompass a wide range of advances in imaging and modulation, with applications spanning healthcare, recreation, marketing, and education. As the number of neurotechnology patent applications filed annually continues to multiply, the importance of responsible innovation and anticipatory practices to ensure resulting benefits and mitigate potential harms also grows. To date, key ethical principles based on empirical analyses to guide these goals have not yet been fully articulated. Here, a novel method that builds on prior neuroethical approaches to neurotechnology patent characterization is described. Its rigorous application to a broad sample set of United States (US) patents identified ethical concerns of scientific validity, mental privacy, and mental integrity. The results highlight key ethics principles for consideration in the neurotechnology invention-to-commercialization pipeline, and as they may be adapted to other technological domains.