ARTICLE · 16 AUGUST 2023

Sufficiency At The EPO For AI Inventions

Keltie LLP

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At the European Patent Office, for the purposes of examination, applications disclosing and claiming subject matter relating to Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning are treated in a similar manner...

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At the European Patent Office, for the purposes of examination, applications disclosing and claiming subject matter relating to Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning are treated in a similar manner to applications disclosing and claiming subject matter relating to other types of mathematical methods or algorithms implemented on a computer (see the EPO's Guidelines for Examination (GfE) on AI inventions).

The guidance provided in relation to such computational and mathematical methods focusses on analysing whether the method contributes to the technical character of the invention. Only those features of a claim that contribute to the technical character of an invention are taken into account when assessing inventive step of the invention.

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