USA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Steven Lieberman and Nicole (Nikki) DeAbrantes, Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck PC
Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck PC 901 New York Avenue NW Suite 900 East Washington, DC 20001 USA
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Developments for AI-Related Inventions With the development and launch of genera- tive artificial intelligence (AI) platforms such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, Copilot and Firefly, the field of AI remains a primary focus of U.S. intel- lectual property law. Specifically, this year, the U.S. patent world saw several new AI-related developments including the issuance of updat- ed patent eligibility guidance by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the filing of several patent infringement lawsuits involving AI-related inventions. The USPTO granted over 324,000 patents in 2024 – a 3.8% increase compared to last year. See 2024 Trends and Insights, IFI Claims Patent Services. There were over 430,000 patent appli- cations filed in 2024 at the USPTO, with over 8,7000 applications relating to machine learning (see id). While the number of AI applications for machine learning saw declined slightly from the previous year, applications for machine learning and other technologies surrounding AI continue to be popular areas for patent filings (see id). In July, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported that, in a study covering 2014- 2023, there were over 6,300 U.S. patent family
publications for generative AI – see WIPO 2024, Generative Artificial Intelligence Patent Land- scape Report, Geneva: WIPO p. 40. The WIPO reported that over 25% of all generative AI patent family publications worldwide were published in 2023 alone (see id. at 45). The majority of pat- ent applications are in areas such as machine learning, neural networks, speech recognition procedures, natural language processing and vision, but there have also been more AI-related patent filings in life sciences, security, business solutions and transportation. With the increase in AI-related patent filings came the need for further clarification on the scope of patentability for AI-related inventions. On 17 July 2024, the USPTO issued updated guidance on the subject-matter eligibility of inventions incor- porating AI systems (see 2024 Guidance Update on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, Including on Artificial Intelligence, 89 Fed. Reg. 58, 128 (17 July 2024)). While the USPTO did not alter the patentability analysis to be applied by when assessing AI-related claims, it provided clarity on the framework, and included three hypotheti- cal examples.
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