Here is how to prepare for AI patent applications in Korea.

1. Can artificial intelligence become an inventor?

The question is whether artificial intelligence (AI) can become an inventor.

Steven Taylor, an American artificial intelligence researcher, applied for the following patents using an AI model named DABUS as the inventor.

[Fractal container surface invented by AI DABUS]

[Neural Flame Device invented by AI DABUS]

The Korean Patent Office invalidated the application listing artificial intelligence DABUS as the inventor. This is because Article 33 (1) of the Korean Patent Act stipulates that “the person who made the invention or its successor has the right to receive a patent as stipulated in this law,” and only the 'person' who made the invention can be an inventor.

Most major countries rejected patent applications where artificial intelligence was listed as the inventor due to prestigious regulations, but in the case of the Australian Court of First Instance, an affirmative decision was made, and in the case of the South African Patent Office, there were also some countries that led to positive results, such as granting patents, so it became an issue.

As the issue of whether artificial intelligence can become an inventor became an inventor became an issue, the Korea Patent Office distributed the “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property White Paper” in March 2022, which collected discussions from various levels of academia on whether artificial intelligence can be an inventor, and the technical level of artificial intelligence was divided into 3 levels: (1) simple tools (2) presenting human direction + deriving AI results (3) inventing AI itself without human intervention (complete invention). Currently, artificial intelligence is judged to be at the level of (2) deriving AI results based on human direction suggestions.

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[Excerpt from page 17 of the white paper on artificial intelligence and intellectual property distributed by the Patent Office]

The reality is that it is still difficult for artificial intelligence to become a complete inventor on its own without human intervention, so it is likely that it will take a little longer for applications listing artificial intelligence as the inventor to be accepted.

However, considering the current pace of development of artificial intelligence technology, such as some opinions discussed in the white paper on artificial intelligence and knowledge, it seems that AI will soon be named as a co-inventor along with humans.

2. How to prepare an artificial intelligence patent application by examining the reasons for invalidity of patent registration

ChatGPT is popular lately. If you look at search terms related to ChatGPT, you'll see a lot of very interesting related search terms.

You can see that quite a few people are searching for the title “How to make money with ChatGPT.”

I don't think I'm the only one searching like this.:)

People who have used ChatGPT are surprised to see the high level of conversation on ChatGPT.

It seems that many people are submitting patent registration inquiries to our office with business items and business models using artificial intelligence technology.

But did you know that artificial intelligence registration patents are also being invalidated at a significant rate?

[Rate of initiation of PTAB procedures for IPR applications by AI patent claimants] [Source: Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency]

Although it is not higher than the average process initiation rate of 60% in technology fields other than the field of artificial intelligence technology, when a claimant applies for an IPR (Inter Partes Review, IPR) application in the US (US), the procedure initiation rate is around 40% (considering the fact that the process initiation rate for IPR applications for AI registered patents is about 40% compared to other technology fields, it would be preferable to actively hold registered patents in the field of artificial intelligence, right?) I can see what's there.

[Excerpt from the 4th Industrial Technology (Artificial Intelligence) Patent Dispute Response Strategy Report] [Source: Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency]

Among the reasons for invalidity, patent eligibility, progressiveness, and uncertainty appear as the main reasons for invalidity.

This is the reason for the invalidity of the US Patent Office, and it is desirable to proceed with Korean patents with overseas (US, US) registered patents in mind, and if you consider comprehensively the fact that the US Patent Office's examination affects the examination by the Korean Patent Office, it is necessary to prepare patent registration against the reason for invalidity in order to successfully register a domestic artificial intelligence patent.

How can we prevent accidents where a registered patent expires due to such an invalid reason?

Regarding this, before the opening article I saw on our website, “How to register an artificial intelligence patent through the Patent Office's examination office? Please refer to the section 'Key is input/output data'.

3. Chat GPT (Chat GPT), an artificial intelligence model that enables human-like conversations

Recently, I entered ChatGPT and asked quite a few questions, and I was often surprised by the amazing level of conversation.

As I mentioned in “How to Register an Artificial Intelligence Patent Using Chat GPT (Chat GPT)” posted on our website before, it is now possible to write part of the scope of a patent claim. While writing this post, I asked Chat GPT (Chat GPT) about whether artificial intelligence (AI) can also be an inventor.

[Can artificial intelligence become an inventor? Screenshot of ChatGPT's response to]

ChatGPT drew a response that it is difficult to create an invention independently by stating that it is an artificial intelligence model and that inventions created by artificial intelligence are only created according to the guidance of a person who sets parameters (PARAMETERS) for artificial intelligence.

Again, ChatGPT answered the same conclusions as each country's main position and the conclusion of the 'Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property White Paper' distributed by the Korea Patent Office. ^^

4. Key tips for AI patent registration through overseas dispute cases

In order to secure an AI registered patent, it is important to accurately describe the input/output data of the AI model and describe the correlation.

The AI Audit Practice Guide requires that the input and output data of the AI model be accurately determined, the correlation between the input/output data is specified, and the learning and use entities of the AI model are accurately described.

This also appears in cases of overseas disputes,

[Excerpt from the Fine Patent presentation materials from the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency's Artificial Intelligence Dispute Seminar]

The above case was a patent infringement lawsuit against PUREPREDICTIVE's H2O.AI based on US Patent No. 8,880,466, and the defendant H2O.AI claimed an invalid plea against PUREPREDICTIVE's registered patent US Patent No. 8,880,466 due to its validity. As a result, the registered patent was only a basic mathematical process, and an invalid argument was eventually recognized because it was nothing more than a general abstract concept of predictive analysis that can be performed by humans. It was a case where the authorizer PUREPREDICTIVE lost.

5. Concluding remarks

As shown in the dispute cases above, in order to secure a successful AI registered patent, it is necessary to prepare a strong patent application against the reasons for invalidating artificial intelligence from the application stage. As ChatGPT became an issue, I was able to post articles related to artificial intelligence registration patents, and I hope this article will be helpful to companies preparing various businesses and business models in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Thank you

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