United Kingdom: Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice issued ruling in Emotional Perception AI Limited v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks allowing appeal against refusal of patent application

On 21 November 2023, the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice allowed the appeal by Emotional Perception AI Limited ([2023] EWHC 2948 (Ch)). The High Court held that an artificial neural network is not a program for a computer and that the exclusion under section 1(2)(c) of the Patents Act 1977 had no application. The High Court further held that, even if that conclusion were wrong, the subject matter of the claimed invention was not excluded from patentability, as the output file constituted a technical effect outside the computer.