Beyond Best Practice: Recent Episodes

Bastian Best

Every week, I deconstruct an interesting fact about digital patents. Often about artificial intelligence and machine learning, sometimes about web3 or IoT, always about patents for the digital future.

Technical drawings obviously make great sense in mechanical patents. But in many digital patents the figures have much less value. Here's why.

AI patents are literally everywhere. It’s funny that every time I look up AI-related patent filings for one of my clients you can bet that we see a quasi-exponential growth trajectory. Listen to the episode for examples.

Question to you: How is the AI patent growth rate in your industry? Please write your industry in the comments so we can have a look at the numbers.

Links to the articles cited in the video (must read): USPTO statistics in Ryan Phelan’s PatentNext blog: https://www.patentnext.com/2022/05/artificial-intelligence-ai-patent-filings-continue-explosive-growth-trend-at-the-uspto/ EPO statistics at Haseltine: https://www.hlk-ip.com/news-and-insights/from-filing-to-opposition-what-are-the-statistics-on-artificial-intelligence-ai-patents-applications-at-the-epo/

Book a free virtual coffee meeting with me: https://bestpatent.eu/

“How to claim the AI before it self-adapted?”, especially when you don’t know how the AI adapted itself to the problem domain? This comment by Eric Stasik on yesterday’s content piece got me thinking. Here’s what I think about patenting blackbox AI.

Book a free virtual coffee meeting with me: https://bestpatent.eu/

I believe patent law needs more flowcharts, so here’s one to explain AI/ML patents in Europe. I know it doesn’t answer the question “which aspects of AI are technical then?”. Would you like to see another video for that?

Book a free virtual coffee meeting with me: https://bestpatent.eu/

"But software isn't patentable, is it?". That's actually a dangerous misconception. Maybe one source of confusion is the statement in the EPO guidelines that computer programs are excluded from patentability "if claimed as such". In the video I'm explaining what that actually means.

Thanks to Christian Winkler for the great comment!

Further reading: https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/guidelines/e/g_ii_3_6.htm

Book a free virtual coffee meeting with me: https://bestpatent.eu/

Here's one massive flaw in many digital patents, and how you can make it better.

Question to you: Is there any good reason for drafting a digital patent without a computer program claim? Please let me know in the comments.

Book a free virtual coffee meeting with me: https://bestpatent.eu/

I'm restarting this podcast by sharing everything I know about digital patents in small snackable pieces, because that’s my mission: To help IP professionals file better digital patents.

There will be no regular upload schedule, so make sure you subscribe. And also follow me on LinkedIn for the latest news.

Book a free virtual coffee meeting with me: https://bestpatent.eu/

I was invited to speak about "Patents for AI inventions in Europe" at the 6th International Conference "Protection of Intellectual Property Rights" in St. Petersburg (Russia). Here's a recording of my talk. You'll learn about the status quo of how the EPO examines computer-implemented inventions (CIIs) that involve artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and related concepts, and some useful tips for better AI patent drafting. Links mentioned in this episode:

Conference website: https://bwforum.ru/conference/intellectual-property2021 My brand new website: https://bastianbest.de/

👉 VIDEO version on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bastianbest _________________________ THE BEST PRACTICE PODCAST The future is digital, but the European patent system was created with physical inventions in mind. Join me as I explore the possibilities and limits of the European patent system for digital innovations, sharing my first-hand insights and practical tips along the way. 👉 https://bastianbest.de/podcast/ _____________________ BASTIAN BEST'S DAILY MAILING LIST I write a short daily email with practical tips on how to make sense of patents in the digital transformation. Sometimes with a useful link, a thought, or material I don’t post publicly (private recordings of my talks, workshop materials, checklists and other useful stuff). 👉 https://bastianbest.de/list/ ________ ABOUT ME Hi👋! I’m Bastian Best, a European patent attorney who helps companies make sense of patents in the digital transformation. 👉 Website: https://bastianbest.de/ 👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastianbest/ 👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bastianbest/

Needless to say that none of this is legal advice, right?

Last week, the Enlarged Board of Appeal finally published its long-awaited decision G1/19 about the patentability of computer simulations. Does it revolutionize the patentability of computer simulations and patents for software in general, as some had hoped? Or is it rather a controlled evolution of the EPO's framework for computer-implemented inventions? To find out I talked to a number of great experts in the field:

Rudolf Teschemacher: https://www.bardehle.com/en/team/teschemacher-rudolf Martin Wilming: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwilming/ Martin Huynh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-huynh-455ab57/ Martin Schweiger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-schweiger/ Christof Karl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christof-karl-1a129320/

Many thanks to everyone for contributing! Link to the whole decision G1/19: https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/g190001ex1.html Watch the video version on YouTube 👉 https://bastianbest.org/podcast ____________________________________________ THE EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS KNOWLEDGE BASE Our mission is to provide the busy software patent enthusiast with concise and actionable summaries of virtually all EPO Board of Appeal decisions that concern computer-implemented inventions. NEW ENTRY EVERY TUESDAY: ▶▶▶ http://www.europeansoftwarepatents.com ◀◀◀ _____________________ MY PRIVATE EMAIL LIST If you want the announcements and thoughts I don’t post publicly, such as private recordings of my talks and seminars, workshop materials, and the like, get on my private email list: ▶▶▶ http://bit.ly/TheBestPracticeList ◀◀◀ ________ ABOUT ME I’m Bastian Best, a European and German patent attorney who builds patent portfolios for digital innovations. People tell me I’m also an enthusiastic educator, speaker and workshop host. Sharing my knowledge is among my true passions. I work for a global clientele out of my hometown Munich, Germany.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastianbest/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bastianbest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bastianbest/ BARDEHLE PAGENBERG: https://www.bardehle.com/team/detail/best-bastian.html Personal website: http://bastianbest.org/

Needless to say that none of this is legal advice, right?

An invention has to be novel to be patentable. But does any difference over the prior art do the job (e.g. a purely aesthetic one) or does it have to be technically relevant? This is a recorded Clubhouse event I hosted with my colleague Patrick Heckeler 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-patrick-heckeler/ Shout-outs go to the panelists who spontaneously made great contributions: Martin Wilming 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwilming/ Barış Atalay 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/bar%C4%B1%C5%9F-atalay-86a14a22/ Preston Richard 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/prestonrichard/ Next European Software Patents Talk on clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/mJzA6Rzo Watch the video version on YouTube 👉 https://bastianbest.org/podcast

_______________________________ LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Article "Checking whether a resource is likely to be available when a corresponding request is serviced: non-technical": https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/checking-whether-a-resource-is-likely-to-be-available-when-a-corresponding-request-is-serviced-non-technical/ T 0552/14 (Queue message/TICKETMASTER): https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t140552eu1.html

____________________________________________ THE EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS KNOWLEDGE BASE Our mission is to provide the busy software patent enthusiast with concise and actionable summaries of virtually all EPO Board of Appeal decisions that concern computer-implemented inventions. NEW ENTRY EVERY TUESDAY: 👉 http://www.europeansoftwarepatents.com

_____________________ MY PRIVATE EMAIL LIST If you want the announcements and thoughts I don’t post publicly, such as private recordings of my talks and seminars, workshop materials, and the like, get on my private email list: 👉 http://bit.ly/TheBestPracticeList

________ ABOUT ME I’m Bastian Best, a European and German patent attorney who builds patent portfolios for digital innovations. People tell me I’m also an enthusiastic educator, speaker and workshop host. Sharing my knowledge is among my true passions. I work for a global clientele out of my hometown Munich, Germany. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastianbest/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bastianbest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bastianbest/ BARDEHLE PAGENBERG: https://www.bardehle.com/team/detail/best-bastian.html Personal website: http://bastianbest.org/

Needless to say that none of this is legal advice, right?

What types of inventions in database technology are patentable in Europe? The EPO guidelines will be updated on 1 March 2021 with a new section specifically on database management systems and information retrieval. In this episode I will walk you through the final draft of the new section to see how clear the guidance is. Watch the video version on YouTube 👉 https://bastianbest.org/podcast _______________________________ LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE G-II, 3.6.4 "Database management systems and information retrieval" (Unedited English version for advance information): https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/guidelines/guidelines-preview.html The two BOA decisions cited in the new section: T 1924/17: https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/using-a-nosql-data-store-and-an-rdbms-to-provide-performance-improvement-in-a-database-system-technical/ T 697/17: https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/sql-language-extensions-for-modifying-columns-in-a-single-statement-technical/ ____________________________________________ THE EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS KNOWLEDGE BASE Our mission is to provide the busy software patent enthusiast with concise and actionable summaries of virtually all EPO Board of Appeal decisions that concern computer-implemented inventions. NEW ENTRY EVERY TUESDAY: ▶▶▶ http://www.europeansoftwarepatents.com ◀◀◀ _____________________ MY PRIVATE EMAIL LIST If you want the announcements and thoughts I don’t post publicly, such as private recordings of my talks and seminars, workshop materials, and the like, get on my private email list: ▶▶▶ http://bit.ly/TheBestPracticeList ◀◀◀ ________ ABOUT ME I’m Bastian Best, a European and German patent attorney who builds patent portfolios for digital innovations. People tell me I’m also an enthusiastic educator, speaker and workshop host. Sharing my knowledge is among my true passions. I work for a global clientele out of my hometown Munich, Germany. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastianbest/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bastianbest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bastianbest/ BARDEHLE PAGENBERG: https://www.bardehle.com/team/detail/best-bastian.html Personal website: http://bastianbest.org/

Needless to say that none of this is legal advice, right?

Basic groundwork today. We're going through 10 EPO Board of Appeal decisions which relate to AI inventions. Topics include technical character, clarity, obviousness and sufficiency of disclosure. Watch the video version on YouTube 👉 https://bastianbest.org/podcast _______________________________ LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 1. T 1942/07 of 11.4.2011 https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t071942du1.html 2. T 1355/08 of 11.6.2012 https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t081355eu1.html 3. T 1784/06 (Classification method/COMPTEL) of 21.9.2012 https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/method-for-classification-and-linking-data-records/ 4. T 1510/10 (Ranking of live web applications/ERICSSON) of 4.12.2013 https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t101510eu1.html 5. T 1285/10 (Genetic analysis computing system/IRIS BIOTECHNOLOGIES) of 23.5.2014 https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t101285eu1.html 6. T 1358/09 (Classification/BDGB ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE) of 21.11.2014 https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/classification-of-text-documents/ 7. T 1286/09 (Image classifier/INTELLECTUAL VENTURES) of 11.6.2015 https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/improving-image-classification-by-training-a-semantic-classifier-technical/ 8. T 0022/12 (Spam classification/MICROSOFT) of 16.11.2015 https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t120022eu1.html 9. T 0509/18 of 3.3.2020 https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/machine-learning-based-driver-alertness-detection-insufficiently-disclosed/ 10. T 0161/18 (Äquivalenter Aortendruck/ARC SEIBERSDORF) of 12.5.2020 https://www.bardehle.com/europeansoftwarepatents/knowledge-base/training-of-an-artificial-neural-network/ + video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjFmVlnENek ____________________________________________ THE EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS KNOWLEDGE BASE Our mission is to provide the busy software patent enthusiast with concise and actionable summaries of virtually all EPO Board of Appeal decisions that concern computer-implemented inventions. NEW ENTRY EVERY TUESDAY: ▶▶▶ http://www.europeansoftwarepatents.com ◀◀◀ _____________________ MY PRIVATE EMAIL LIST If you want the announcements and thoughts I don’t post publicly, such as private recordings of my talks and seminars, workshop materials, and the like, get on my private email list: ▶▶▶ http://bit.ly/TheBestPracticeList ◀◀◀ ________ ABOUT ME I’m Bastian Best, a European and German patent attorney who builds patent portfolios for digital innovations. People tell me I’m also an enthusiastic educator, speaker and workshop host. Sharing my knowledge is among my true passions. I work for a global clientele out of my hometown Munich, Germany. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bastianbest/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bastianbest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bastianbest/ BARDEHLE PAGENBERG: https://www.bardehle.com/team/detail/best-bastian.html Personal website: http://bastianbest.org/

Needless to say that none of this is legal advice, right?

Welcome to the very first episode of the podcast! As we go through the section on AI and machine learning in the examination guidelines, I'll tell you why the EPO's current approach is too restrictive when it comes to patenting AI innovations. At the end of the episode, I'm sharing my best tips for how to draft AI patent applications so that they fulfill what’s in the guidelines. 👉 Watch this episode on YouTube LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE ▶ The Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office ▶ Section 3.3.1 "Artificial intelligence and machine learning" ▶ Software patent basics article ▶ The European software patent knowledge base ▶ My YouTube video about AI patent enablement MY PRIVATE EMAIL LIST If you want the announcements and thoughts I don’t post publicly, such as private recordings of my talks and seminars, workshop materials, and the like, get on my private email list: ▶▶▶ http://bit.ly/TheBestPracticeList ◀◀◀ THE EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS KNOWLEDGE BASE Our mission is to provide the busy software patent enthusiast with concise and actionable summaries of virtually all EPO Board of Appeal decisions that concern computer-implemented inventions. NEW ENTRY EVERY TUESDAY: ▶▶▶ http://www.europeansoftwarepatents.com ◀◀◀ ABOUT ME I’m Bastian Best, a European and German patent attorney who builds patent portfolios for digital innovations. People tell me I’m also an enthusiastic educator, speaker and workshop host. Sharing my knowledge is among my true passions. I work for a global clientele out of my hometown Munich, Germany. ▶ LinkedIn ▶ YouTube ▶ Instagram ▶ BARDEHLE PAGENBERG ▶ Personal website Needless to say that none of this is legal advice, right?