“AI Use Risks Drop in New Patents as Ideas Are Rendered ‘Obvious'” (featured quotes)

Inventions assisted by artificial intelligence could make it more difficult for inventors to win patent protections by rendering some innovations too obvious, according to a Bloomberg Law article quoting Marshall Gerstein partner Matthew Carey.

Matt explained how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decides whether to reject a patent application due to obviousness, noting that it’s generally issued if an examiner “contends that a person having ordinary skill in the art would find it obvious to combine two or more references to arrive at the claimed idea.”

Matt said AI could change this process.

“It may raise that standard to allow the patent office to say it would be obvious to combine these references where, currently, it may not be obvious to combine certain references to arrive at a claim combination,” he said.

Access the article "AI Use Risks Drop in New Patents as Ideas Are Rendered 'Obvious'" in Bloomberg Law that features Matt Carey.