In the UK, the advancement and growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is affecting the practice of intellectual property (IP) law in several significant ways.

Here, we consider two of the most prominent AI trends in IP legal practice.

AI as IP support tool

One of the principal means by which AI is affecting IP legal practice is the potential for IP lawyers – both private practice and in-house legal teams – to harness AI in ways that help them perform their roles more effectively.

According to Dentons' recent Laws of AI Traction survey report, which asked 450 senior business leaders how they use AI, 30% of Chief Compliance Officers and 40% of Heads of Regulatory Compliance said they use AI to support IP screening as part of corporate transactions.

The survey also found that 42% of CEOs see opportunities for growth in the use of AI for patent and IP evaluation, as part of their future M&A and transactional strategy.

Some patent lawyers are also experimenting with using AI to expedite aspects of the lengthy, complicated patent drafting process and the subsequent prosecution process for patent infringement.

While many elements of the patent drafting and prosecution process require highly specialised human input, some areas are more systematic and could be supported by algorithms – offering value-adding benefits for clients while also saving lawyers' time.

Today, IP-focused AI tools are still being tested and refined to bring them up to the standards human IP lawyers apply to patent applications and prosecutions. However, their availability will likely have a beneficial impact on reducing the fees charged for some aspects of patent work.

AI as "inventor"?

Patent attorneys are becoming increasingly busy dealing with patent applications by clients looking to protect original AI inventions.

This has been aided by a regular flow of new case law in the UK and Europe on best practice for drafting and defending patent applications for inventions of new AI tools.

Momentum in this area has been steadily gathering pace for the past decade, culminating in the recent (more or less simultaneous) appearance of a raft of new AI tools on the global market, with a marked acceleration in AI tool patent applications over the past two years.

This has been most obvious in the fields of improved machine learning systems and large language models (LLMs, a type of generative AI).

Generally, new AI inventions tend to involve innovation in AI architectures and how the technology functions, or using AI systems in new specific applications to achieve better results than humans can attain.

Today, the technology has overtaken the law in many respects, as the generative capacity of AI is also capable of "inventing" in its own right.

However, a recent UK Supreme Court decision confirmed that, under existing UK IP legislation, inventions devised solely by AI are ineligible for patent protection.

This position has been upheld in the vast majority of jurisdictions with mature patent markets and sophisticated IP law, with a small number of exceptions.

Whether and how the law is updated to address this issue of AI's ability to own IP depends on the outcome of deep political, ethical and legal consideration of what human society wants machines to be, and whether they can and should be allowed to generate their own IP.

If it is decided to recognise machines as inventors, and the companies that own those machines as the owners of the IP rights, this will represent a major overhaul of patent law in the UK and other jurisdictions that decide to adopt this approach.

What next?

In view of the changes to the legal landscape the IP world has seen to date, patent attorneys and their clients are likely to see significant additional developments in both the use and protection of AI in IP over the coming years.

As the technology develops, patent attorneys and IP lawyers may find themselves cooperating more with alternative "legal" service providers, who may offer to run IP risk assessments through AI programmes, at a lower cost than human review.

These developments present interesting challenges for patent attorneys, who will need to modernise their practice in sync with technological developments and IP law, as well as changes that will provide lasting improvements to the profession.

This article was authored by Partner Justin Hill in Dentons' Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) practice. The challenges businesses face in deploying AI are discussed in Dentons' Laws of AI Traction report.