Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patent Filings Continue Explosive Growth Trend At The USPTO – Patent – United States – Mondaq

PatentNext Summary:ArtificialIntelligence (AI) Patent Application filings continue theirexplosive growth trend at the U.S. Patent Office (USPTO). At theend of 2020, the USPTO published a report finding an exponentialincrease in the number of patent application filings from 2002 to2018. This trend has continued. In addition, current data showsthat AI-related application filings pertaining to graphics andimaging are taking the lead over AI modeling and simulationapplications.

In the last quarter of 2020, the United States Patent andTrademark Office (USPTO) reported that patent filings forArtificial Intelligence (AI) related inventions more than doubledfrom 2002 to 2018.SeeOffice of the Chief Economist, Inventing AI:Tracking The Diffusion Of Artificial Intelligence With Patents, IPDATA HIGHLIGHTS No. 5 (Oct. 2020).

Since the publication of the USPTO's report almost two yearsago, AI patent application filings have continued their explosivegrowth trend.

The below chart shows filings by Technology ("Tech")Center over time from 2000 to 2022.

Note that the right-most side of the graph slopes down becauseof the 18-month "Publication Delay," during whichinformation for newer patent application filings is not yetpublicly available. See37 CFR 1.211.

The above chart organizes patent application filings byTech Center. As shown, most AI-related patentapplications fall into one of two Tech Centers. First,Tech Center 2100(purple color in theabove graph) includes examiners that handle "ComputerArchitecture and Software" inventions. It is not surprisingthat many AI-related patent applications end up here because TechCenter 2100 includes the specific AI-relatedArt Unit 2120, which handles technology involving "AI& Simulation/Modeling."

Second,Tech Center 2600(red color in the abovegraph) handles "Communications" technology. Tech Center2600 includes several art units devoted to graphic and visualprocessing, such as Art Unit 2615 ("Computer GraphicProcessing") and Art Unit 2660 ("Digital Cameras; ImageAnalysis; Applications; pattern Recognition; Color and Compression;Enhancement and Transformation"). Such Art Units handleAI-related patent applications that involve image processing. Thiscan include the use of a Convolutional Neural Network("CNN") to detect, classify, and/or predict objects intwo-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) space.

Together these two Tech Centers receive a majority of theAI-related patent application filings.

For example, during the year 2018, Tech Center 2100 saw1,733 filings, and Tech Center 2600 saw 1,416 filings.

Later, in the year 2020, these two centers still saw the mostfilings but were reversed in respective rankings as to the numberof filings, where Tech Center 2100 saw 2,152 filings, and TechCenter 2600 saw 2,542 filings.

This suggests that graphical or image-related AI patentapplication filings have overtaken non-graphical or non-imageAI-related filings by the year 2020.

As good news for AI inventors, these two Tech Centers experiencehigh percentages of allowance. The below chart shows the patentapplication allowance rate by Tech Center.

As shown above, AI-related patent applications handled by TechCenter 2100 (purple bar in the above graph) has a relatively highallowance rate (84%). AI-related patent applications handled byTech Center 2600 (red bar in the above graph) has an even higherallowance rate (91%).

This finding can be contrasted toTech Center 3600(yellow bar in the abovegraph), which handles patent applications for a mix ofbusiness-related technologies, i.e.: "Transportation,Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Securityand License and Review."

Certain art units of Tech Center 3600, such as Art Unit 3620("Business Methods"), are infamous for issuingpatent-eligibility rejections pursuant to 35 USC 101. Suchrejections can be difficult to overcome and explains the much lowerallowance rate of 67% for Tech Center 3600.

Accordingly, staying out of Tech Center 3600 remains a viablestrategy for patentees.

To the extent the reader is interested in accomplishing this,please see PatentNext's articles on best practices forpatenting AI inventions. SeeHow to Patent an Artificial Intelligence (AI)Invention: Guidance from the U.S. Patent Office(USPTO)andHow to Patent Software Inventions: Show an"Improvement."

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patent Filings Continue Explosive Growth Trend At The USPTO - Patent - United States - Mondaq