Patent Office Seeks Help From AI

"The time is ripe," said Andrei Iancu, the agency's director. "Our need is high and technology has advanced, so this is a good time to take advantage of these new tools to help our examiners," Mr. Iancu said. The agency's AI expert will advise the CIO on state-of-the-art implementations of smart tools in its internal business units, while creating a road map for using AI, including machine learning, to drive efficiencies in both the patent and trademark examination process, Mr. Iancu said. The goal is to speed up the overall process, he said, in part by automating aspects of the research performed by staff examiners and supervisors, reducing mundane administrative tasks and cutting costs by eking out efficiencies. The agency received about 643,000 patent applications last year, inching down from 2017, but up from about 619,000 in 2014, according to the agency.