Lu Yin Discusses Strategies for Overcoming AI Patent Rejections in Bloomberg Law Article
Lu Yin, a Quarles & Brady partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group, wrote an article for Bloomberg Law about the challenge of artificial intelligence (AI) patent inventions often being rejected as “abstract ideas” under Section 101. Yin explains how applicants can overcome these challenges by demonstrating practical applications, technical improvements or tasks impractical for humans.
An excerpt:
For instance, Example 47 from the USPTO’s July 2024 guidance describes an AI model for network intrusion detection. Using an artificial neural network, or ANN, the model not only identifies network anomalies but also blocks malicious traffic in real-time without manual intervention.
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In Example 48 from the USPTO guidance, a deep neural network improves speech separation for real-time transcription. The DNN’s clustering and masking techniques enhance audio clarity by distinguishing voices, reducing background noise without speaker-specific training, and advancing speech recognition technology beyond generic transcription.
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Long legal arguments without claim amendment rarely work. When responding to office actions involving Section 101 rejections, applicants should amend the claim to demonstrate integration into practical applications, technology improvement, or performance of tasks impractical for humans.