The Japan Patent Office is planning on using artificial intelligence in the processing of patents, it was reported. AI will help to automate "cumbersome" tasks in patent, trademark and design applications, such as literature reviews. The office hopes to begin using this technology to automate 20 tasks by 2018, according to a Nikkei Asian Review report. In this context, AI will be able to search through lots of files and documents to check if a piece of technology or intellectual property has already been patented. It will also be able to classify patents by field, according to the report. Furthermore, image recognition technology will be able to verify trademark applications against previously registered images and logos.