Introduction 1. These guidelines set out the practice within the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for the examination of patent applications for inventions relating to artificial intelligence (AI). 2. The relevant legislation is the Patents Act 1977, as amended by subsequent legislation, and the Patents Rules 2007. The interpretation of this legislation has been informed by case law in the UK courts. It also reflects the fact that judicial notice must be taken of international conventions (such as the European Patent Convention) and of decisions and opinions made under these conventions by the appropriate bodies. Accordingly, decisions made by the UK courts relating to the Patents Act 1977 are binding on our practice, whilst the European Patent Office (EPO) Board of Appeal decisions are considered strongly persuasive. Decisions of the UK Courts made under previous legislation may be persuasive, dependent on the extent to which that aspect of patent law was changed by the 1977 Act. 3. The government response to call for views on artificial intelligence and intellectual property committed the IPO to publish these enhanced guidelines for the examination of patent applications for AI inventions in respect of the exclusions to patentability contained in the Act. These guidelines also touch briefly on the requirement for sufficiency of disclosure concerning AI inventions. Read more
Monday, October 3 2022 \ Published by UKIPO.
