IP Law Daily, AGENCY NEWS: USPTO seeks ‘responsible and inclusive AI innovation’ in new strategy document, (Jan 15, 2025)
By Jonathan Anderson
The USPTO pledges to advance safe, secure, and trustworthy AI; support responsible AI innovation; and integrate AI into its operations.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced plans for how it will address artificial intelligence (AI) in the intellectual property (IP) ecosystem and within the agency itself, identifying a broad strategy implicating patents, trademarks, copyright, and other protections such as trade secrets.
In a report released days before the start of a new presidential administration, the USPTO laid out a strategy for how it “can foster responsible and inclusive AI innovation, harness AI to support the agency’s mission, and advance a positive future for AI to ensure that the country maintains its leadership in innovation,” the office said in a press release.
The document, the USPTO’s first major effort to describe the key challenges and goals related to AI and IP, identified five focus areas:
Advance the development of IP policies that promote inclusive AI innovation and creativity;
Build best-in-class AI capabilities by investing in computational infrastructure, data resources, and business-driven product development;
Promote the responsible use of AI within the USPTO and across the broader innovation ecosystem;
Develop AI expertise within the USPTO’s workforce; and
Collaborate with other U.S. government agencies, international partners, and the public on shared AI priorities.
The report listed more specific strategic actions within each of the five focus areas. For example, under the first focus area, the agency said it will work to ensure it “anticipates and effectively responds to AI-related IP policy issues.” This includes monitoring emerging AI-related IP issues and considering how IP policies and practices can foster innovations in AI technology and the use of AI to advance other technologies.
The Office said it would advocate, as appropriate, “for the development of balanced and sound judicial precedents and legislation that promote both AI innovation and respect for IP rights, while not unnecessarily constraining future AI innovation.”
For the third focus area, one of the actions calls on the agency to “Maintain public trust in the USPTO’s adoption of AI through value-aligned product development, risk mitigation, and transparent stakeholder communication.” This action calls on the agency to adopt several principles and practices, including upholding equity, rights, and civil liberties; upholding robust and secure IT practices; and communicating benefits and limitations clearly.
Internally, the Office said it would seek to expand training to address AI-related subject matter in USPTO examination and seek to ensure that the agency’s workforce has adequate AI expertise to support organizational needs. The report cited as an example the need for AI expertise on adjudication boards and in legal services offices, including among Patent Trial and Appeal Board and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board judges.
Annual filings of AI-related patent applications have more than doubled since 2002 and are up by 33% since 2018, according to the report. AI-related applications are filed broadly across technologies, appearing in 60% of all technology subclasses in 2023.
The USPTO said it “must maintain an effective and predictable IP ecosystem that upholds IP protections, promotes robust competition, and enables U.S. leadership in AI and related markets.”
“We have a responsibility to promote, empower, and protect innovation,” Derrick Brent, acting Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Dcting director of the USPTO, said in a statement. “Developing a strategy to unleash the power of AI while mitigating risks provides a framework to advance innovation and intellectual property.”
Former USPTO Director Kathi Vidal resigned in December following the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president. Trump has not yet named a replacement.
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