This year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has dominated headlines. Generative AI, such as deepfakes and ChatGPT, has caused excitement and controversy in equal measure, as society wrestles with both its potential and the new legal and ethical questions it raises. As a renowned leader in this space, Marks & Clerk has been at the forefront of the European Patent Office’s (EPO’s) engagement with the patent profession as they try to bring some legal certainty and consistency to examining AI patent applications within this rapidly evolving environment.
Growing public attention is mirrored by strong growth in AI patent filings with the number of AI patent publications at the EPO increasing by around 17% between 2021 and 2022, according to Mark’s & Clark’s annual AI Report. It also reveals that practical applications of AI are an increasing focus for industry, demonstrating significant investment that reflects AI’s growing impact on the global economy. As AI’s usefulness increases, it is clear that companies are eager to protect their innovations in this area. Key findings also include:
• The US is filing more AI applications at the EPO than any other country, whilst the Republic of Korea has the highest number of AI applications per capita
• The Med-tech and other life sciences sector filed more AI patent applications at the EPO than any other industry
• The allowance rate varied between 23% and 62% between sectors, based on areas deemed “technical” or not by the EPO
Whilst it’s too early to see the effects of the very latest AI developments in the data, it seems clear that patent applications will continue to surge. As applications continue to rise, lawmakers’ efforts to balance legal and ethical considerations will also increase, which will make some firms uneasy about how they can protect their interests while leveraging these new technologies.
This is Marks & Clerk’s third annual AI Report, which aims to provide answers to industry questions before they have even been asked – as reflected in the decision to include a specific chapter focused on the med-tech sector's burgeoning utilisation of AI technologies as well as doubling down on the impact of Generative AI. A more detailed analysis of the surge in recent medtech applications can be found here.
Mike Williams, lead partner in AI at Marks & Clerk, looks ahead to incoming AI regulations:
“The impact of AI regulation on patent filing trends is worth exploring. The drafted EU AI Act could pose a significant burden to AI development in the EU – similar to the issues posed by GDPR – which could create divergence between countries if other jurisdictions apply a softer-touch approach to regulation.
“Given the 18-month delay between patent filing and publication, the recent surge in generative AI is not yet reflected in the current patent data. But given the disruption caused by the widespread uptake of Large Language Models (LLMs), it will be interesting to see whether this has an effect in next year’s data.”
This is Marks & Clerk’s third annual AI Report, which uses EPO data to identify global trends in AI patent applications and provides analysis from the firm’s team of world-leading AI specialists.