Patent AI Notice Spurs Concerns of Dueling Disclosure Priorities

New guidance on the use of artificial intelligence tools in the patenting process may push applicants to limit certain information and increase clients’ risk of having patents invalidated down the road, attorneys said.

A US Patent and Trademark Office notice warned attorneys about AI’s potential to burden examiners by overpopulating patent application disclosures with irrelevant material. Those information disclosure statements include references to prior art—evidence showing an invention is already known—and heavily influence whether applicants’ submissions are deemed patentable.

Intellectual property attorneys acknowledged there’s a risk of excessive citations overloading examiners, but they said leaving out relevant prior art references ...