Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio

The past 30 of May of 2018, the European Patent Office (EPO) held the first conference addressing artificial intelligence from the patent system on ‘Patenting Artificial Intelligence’.

The main line connecting all the sessions of the conference was the common understanding that Artificial Intelligence provides an immense opportunity for innovation. Furthermore, the patent system must respond adequately in order to ensure that it doesn´t repress but enhance such innovation. The main goal of the event was definitely allow the discussion about the challenges in patenting Artificial Intelligence.

The conferences analyzed three challenges mainly: 1) The general strategies for protecting Artificial Intelligence inventions and the trial in drafting patent applications for Artificial Intelligence-related inventions; 2) How the EPO conducts its examination of the subject matter, including its two-hurdle approach and use of the developed case law in this regard.  3) The EPO´s mechanisms in place to support improvement to its activities in this area, including its annual revision of the guidelines for examination of computer implemented inventions (CIIs), that the revised version will be available online in autumn 2018. Likewise the keynote speakers observed the post-grant aspects of Artificial Intelligence patents and ownership in different jurisdictions, including Europe, the US and Japan. 

As Grant Philpott (EPO Chief Operating Officer ICT) noted in his concluding remarks, “adapting the patent system designed for hardware innovation to the virtual world of software innovation has been a long and difficult process, but ultimately, Europe and the EPO have succeeded in developing a highly methodical approach to the patenting of CIIs, which is firmly rooted in EPC case law and EPO practice. However, as AI software becomes super-software, incredibly powerful and versatile, the challenges for our patent system are likewise significant. Events such as this help us to meet that change and ensure that AI and its impact on patents and patentability continues to be dealt with systematically and in line with the laws and needs of stakeholders. Only by doing so can our system provide the stability and predictability that the industry needs for its business models, and further support economic growth of Europe.” [1]

Is a fact, the Artificial Intelligence is here, the fourth Industrial Revolution is happening right now, the dramatic changes that Artificial Intelligence is making, influencing the scale and the speed of innovation in every industry. That is why, EPO and every Industrial Property Office, have to keep in mind a clear vision on how to boost the development of Artificial Intelligence, while maintaining ethnical aspects in place, is a very important issue that requires thoughtful decisions, and the EPO’s initiative in calling this conference is a welcome step in the right direction.

Cecilia Nieto

[1] Eibhlin Vardy. Report: EPO conference - Patenting Artificial Intelligence