The USPTO Issues New Guidance on AI Patent Eligibility
Bangalore, July 23, 2024 -The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced a significant update to its guidance on patent subject matter eligibility, specifically addressing innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. This update, effective July 17, 2024, aims to aid USPTO personnel and stakeholders in determining the eligibility of AI inventions under patent law.
The new guidance builds on previous directives, offering enhanced clarity and consistency for evaluating patent claims related to AI technologies. It introduces three new examples demonstrating the application of guidance across a variety of technological fields, providing a practical framework for examination, appeal, and post-grant proceedings.
Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, emphasized the importance of this update, stating, “The USPTO remains committed to fostering and protecting innovation in critical and emerging technologies, including AI. We look forward to hearing public feedback on this guidance update, which will provide further clarity on evaluating the subject matter eligibility of AI inventions while incentivizing innovations needed to solve world and community problems.”
The guidance update includes:
- Background on USPTO’s AI efforts: Providing context for the office's ongoing initiatives related to AI and subject matter eligibility.
- Overview of patent subject matter eligibility guidance: Detailing the criteria for determining what constitutes patent-eligible subject matter.
- Discussion on Federal Circuit decisions: Addressing how recent legal rulings impact the evaluation of AI-related patent claims.
The three new examples address key issues such as determining whether a claim recites an abstract idea and whether it integrates this idea into a practical application. These examples are designed to help examiners apply the subject matter eligibility guidance effectively to AI inventions.
The USPTO continues to play a pivotal role in shaping legal and policy measures concerning AI's impact on intellectual property. This update aligns with the USPTO’s obligations under the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. It follows recent announcements on AI-assisted inventions' inventorship guidance and requests for public comments on AI's impact on patentability considerations.
The full text of the guidance update and the examples can be accessed on the USPTO’s AI-related resources webpage and the patent eligibility page. The USPTO encourages public comments on the guidance update and examples, with the comment period open until September 16, 2024.
For more details you may follow the link bellow:
https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-issues-ai-subject-matter-eligibility-guidance