Artificial Intelligence: Is It Changing Patent Prosecution?

Some feel that artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way patents are prosecuted, while others disagree. When we hear this term used in relation to patent prosecution, we immediately think of prior art searching. However, AI is being employed in several other ways.

As Susan Krelitz, adjunct professor of Intellectual Asset Management at the Mitchell Hamlin School of Law said, "IP Law firms and departments will use AI if it makes their life easier, faster or less expensive. It is that simple." Let us discuss each of the following areas, with specific examples, where AI has proven to be easier, faster or less expensive:

- Prior art searching

- Invention submission evaluation

- Watching the competition and identifying new competitors

- Directing R&D with white space landscaping

- Opposition Invalidity Searching

Prior art searching

The most obvious use of AI within the IP industry is prior art searching. AI and machine learning are technologies that allow us to easily and quickly gain insight into massive amounts of patent data. The traditional method of conducting a prior art search is to have a researcher construct a query into a patent database. The query will identify published patents that meet the specific criteria in the query. The criteria may include class codes, keywords, exclusionary words, etc.

The success of the prior art search is dependent on the skill of the searchers. Did they consider the right classes? Did they select the right keywords? Did they exclude keywords, without which the results will be overly inclusive? Did they use the correct Boolean operators? In other words, the search inquiry will return exactly what the researcher requested, nothing more and nothing less. The result of a traditional search is usually a long list of patents that the searcher must then sift through and prioritize.

AI-based searching is different. It processes human language with flexible semantics. There is no need to learn Boolean search structures. AI allows the user to input any description of an invention directly into the system, which then automatically extracts the meaning of the text and identifies patents with a similar purpose or technical...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT