United Kingdom: Published UKIPO Guidelines on patent applications relating to AI inventions

On 22 September 2022, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) published the guidelines for the examination of patent applications for inventions relating to artificial intelligence (AI). The guidelines clarify that patents are available for AI inventions in all fields of technology, and establish that although mathematical methods or computer programs are excluded from patent protection, when the task or process performed by an AI invention contains a technical contribution, it is patentable. In addition, the guidelines include a specific document with several scenarios involving AI inventions or machine learning (ML) technologies and determine the criteria applicable for their patentability.