PatentNext Takeaway: WIPO published a Patent Landscape Report on GenAI. The Patent Landscape Report discusses trends in GenAI, including trends in: GenAI scientific publications, GenAI patents, GenAI models, types of data used in GenAI, and GenAI application areas.Continue Reading WIPO Issues a Patent Landscape Report on Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
PatentNext Takeaway: The USPTO announced its 2024 Guidance Update on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, particularly focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Effective July 17, 2024, this guidance aims to address examination procedures for U.S. patent applications under 35 U.S.C. § 101, following President Biden’s executive order on the safe development and use of AI. The 2024 AI Guidance is designed to help USPTO personnel apply existing subject matter eligibility rules to AI-related inventions during patent examination, appeal, and post-grant proceedings. It includes case examples from the Federal Circuit, which, although not AI-specific, are relevant for understanding software-related arts. Additionally, it introduces hypothetical examples (new example claims 47-49) illustrating how AI-related patent claims will be analyzed for eligibility. These examples suggest that examiners will scrutinize AI-related claims more rigorously, emphasizing the need for detailed descriptions of how AI features improve technology or technical fields and/or provide a specific medical treatment. While the guidance does not constitute new law, it replaces previous guidance and is expected to be integrated into the MPEP eventually.Continue Reading The USPTO Issues Guidance on Patenting Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related Inventions per 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Subject Matter Eligibility)
PatentNext Takeaway: Can text generated by artificial intelligence (AI) (e.g., an “AI-generated text”) constitute “prior art” pursuant to U.S. patent law? The answer to that question will impact whether AI-generated text can be used to preclude human inventions from issuing as patents in the United States. Third-party entities currently publish AI-generated text for the express purpose of preventing patent inventions from issuing. But this seems to run afoul of U.S. law requiring human “conception,” not to mention the U.S. Constitution, which seeks “[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts ….” Accordingly, it is possible that Congress or the courts will look not only the to related statutory text, but also to existing court decisions to preclude AI-generated text from constituting “prior art.”Continue Reading Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Generate Prior Art (e.g., a “Printed Publication”) pursuant to U.S. Patent Law?
I am excited to announce the publication of the Intellectual Property Owner (IPO)’s paper on Patent Marking regarding Software Medical Devices.
The paper provides an in-depth analysis of patent marking laws as they apply to software and medical devices. It covers multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The paper addresses various types of medical devices and software platforms, such as external, implantable, cloud-based devices, and third-party devices. Continue Reading Patent Marking And Software Medical Devices (IPO Paper Announcement)
I am excited to announce the publication of the Intellectual Property Owner (IPO)’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patenting Handbook (the “AI Patenting Handbook”). This is a second, updated version of the AI patenting handbook. Continue Reading Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patenting Handbook: Version 2.0
AI chatbots have grown increasingly ubiquitous over the last year. For example, the basic version of ChatGPT is a conversational chatbot capable of understanding natural language inputs and generating highly coherent text responses. However, exciting new multimodal AI models like Google’s Gemini showcase more sophisticated capabilities.Continue Reading Beyond Language: How Multimodal AI Sees the Bigger Picture
To date, the Federal Circuit has not reviewed many cases involving artificial intelligence (AI). However, in a recent case, the Federal Circuit found that a “machine learning” claim element lacked sufficient enablement because both the claim itself and the written description of the patent to which it belonged failed to describe “how” the claimed invention implemented this element. In view of this ruling, patent practitioners should endeavor to explain sufficiently in the written description the specific aspects of how machine learning features (and other computer-implemented invention features) operate in order to demonstrate sufficient enablement.Continue Reading The Federal Circuit hints at Enablement requirements for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Inventions
I am excited to announce the publication of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)’s article on “IP Aspects of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technologies.” Continue Reading Announcing AIPLA article on Augmented Reality(AR) / Virtual Reality(VR): IP Aspects of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technologies
In his petition for certiorari, Stephen Thaler had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Federal Circuit decision in which the court ruled that artificial intelligence (AI) could not be listed as the sole inventor. However, the Supreme Court has now denied Thaler’s petition, and it is now effectively up to Congress to act to promote any change on the issue. As Thaler noted in his petition, this issue is unlikely to be appealed to the Supreme Court again. Particularly, the Federal Circuit has already denied en banc rehearing; additionally, the Federal Circuit is the only court of appeals with jurisdiction over questions of patent law, so no circuit split will occur. Indeed, as the law is essentially settled at this point, Applicants are unlikely to even file patent applications listing AI as the sole inventor, and thus the fact pattern is unlikely to repeat itself.Continue Reading The Future of AI Inventorship Following Denial of Stephen Thaler’s Petition
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by OpenAI. In particular, ChatGPT is a type of “language” model designed to respond with a natural language reply when prompted with a text-based question. The “Chat” in ChatGPT refers to this question-and-answer design, where ChatGPT behaves like a ChatBot. Continue Reading ChatGPT and Intellectual Property (IP) related Topics