【Japan】 JPO to streamline examination with artificial intelligence (AI)

The JPO (Japan Patent Office) says it will begin a demonstration experiment of patent examination using artificial intelligence (AI) next year.

As early as this summer, it will cooperate with NTT Data to promote the automation of classifying application contents and collecting past patent information.

The JPO receives more than 500,000 applications a year for patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks. Through the efficiency gains in work brought by AI, it hopes to shorten the period until a patent is granted to about half of the current length.

Specifically, the areas where the applicability of AI technology will be examined are the receipt of applications, formality examination, classification assignment, and substantive examination. Each area will be broken down into multiple processes, and the JPO will study whether AI can streamline the work for each task, as well as the cost-effectiveness.

With a target of next year, it plans to carry out trial operation for the tasks it has judged AI can be utilized for.