Will Artificial Intelligence Change Some Patent Law Paradigms?

Abstract

After a brief introduction into the tools of artificial intelligence (AI), the author uses three important research achievements attributed by science writers entirely to the AI to examine the correctness of such reporting in the light of the original research reports. The author presents the practice of the EPO, JPO, SIPO and USPTO, which all in principle grant patents for AI-related inventions. A critical reflection on the academic debate questioning the ability of the established patent law paradigms to master the challenges of the AI technology follows. The facts of the broadly publicised “DABUS” patent applications serve to demonstrate the weakness of the assertion that AI autonomously invented the claimed inventions and to point to the deficiencies of the system and suggest measures to adequately determine, e.g. the prior art, and assess the inventive step requirement for AI- related inventions. In line with the practice of the leading patent offices of the world, the understanding and assessment of that practice by its main users, the author believes that under the impact of the AI technology, the settled patent law paradigms will undergo certain evolutionary adaptations, but will not change as to their substance. Finally, the article critically comments on the EU plans to adopt a regulation, which would specifically deal with all complex aspects of patenting AI related inventions.