How the USPTO Solved AI Inventorship by Looking the Other Way
The Federal Circuit Clarifies: Only Humans Can Be Inventors For a while there, it looked like we had some rules.Back in 2022, the Federal Circuit decided Thaler v. Vidal and…
USPTO Clarifies AI and Machine Learning Patent Eligibility
Background: USPTO Issues New AI Eligibility Memo The USPTO issued a memorandum on Aug 2, 2025. This was to help examiners assess subject matter eligibility in software-related inventions, especially those…
When a Patent Case Is Really a Personhood Case
The DABUS Litigation Is a Personhood Fight Disguised as a Patent Fight Dr. Stephen Thaler has lost another case trying to have his DABUS AI system recognized as a patent…
Enablement and Prior Art: What Agilent v. Synthego Teaches Us About the Limits of Patent Protection
Enablement Depends on Context In patent law, “enablement” is critical. However, the required detail varies depending on your goal—getting a patent or invalidating one.This distinction became clear in Agilent Technologies…
Who Gets Credit When AI Invents? A Look at the History—and Future—of Inventorship
For centuries, governments have tried to encourage innovation by offering inventors something valuable in return: ownership. The earliest forms of state-recognized intellectual property—like patents—were meant to reward people for coming…
Federal Circuit to AI Innovators: Generic Machine Learning Isn’t Enough for a Patent
In a closely watched decision, the Federal Circuit delivered a clear message. Simply applying machine learning to a new domain is not enough. Unless the ML itself improves, the invention…
New FishFAQ video: The History of Patents
We have recently added another video to our FishFAQ video series on patents. This one covers a brief history and development of patents. You can find the entire FishFAQ video playlist…
New FishFAQ video: Patent Families
We have uploaded a new FishFAQ™ video to YouTube. This video covers how various related patent applications can make up what is called a 'patent family'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmH0jhpBwP8&t=8s
New FishFAQ video: Patent Pending
We have a new FishFAQ™ video explaining the term "patent pending", when it can be used, and some considerations to keep in mind when using the term.You can find all…
USPTO AI subject matter eligibility guidance
Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/17/2024-15377/2024-guidance-update-on-patent-subject-matter-eligibility-including-on-artificial-intelligenceThe US Patent Office continues to issue guidance on subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. This latest July guidance addresses AI-assisted inventions, and adds very little to…
PTO Guidance on AI and Inventorship
Rising Questions About AI-Assisted Inventorship in U.S. Patent Law Questions about who, or what, can claim inventorship on AI-assisted inventions have been tested in the last few years. The United…
If I had a dollar for every time…
…Thaler challenged the legal system to grant intellectual property rights to AI systems… Thaler loses case for copyright Artificial intelligence’s most persistent IP rights advocate, Dr Stephen Thaler, has again…
New FishFAQ video: Right-to-Practice
We have uploaded a new video covering the Right-to-Practice. Having a patent on your invention gives you the right to exclude others from practicing your invention, but not necessarily the…
New FishFAQ video: Patent Enforcement
We have uploaded a new video talking about the issues involved in enforcing patents. You can find the video on YouTube here as part of our ongoing FishFAQ series of…
Should Patents be Granted to AI “Inventions”?
The DABUS Case and the Question of AI Inventorship On June 6, 2022 the Federal Circuit heard the oral arguments in the future landmark case Thaler v Vidal. These discuss…
Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility Program
The USPTO is implementing a pilot program called the Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility response.The point of the program is to defer the whole question of subject matter eligibility until a…
Supreme Court: Less focus on patent matters post-Alice
Alice v CLS (2014) was a landmark case for patent eligibility. The decision held that Alice’s patents were invalid because the claims were drawn to an abstract idea. Implementing them…
Artificial Intelligence as Inventor
What is DABUS and How Did It Invent An AI machine program called DABUS was created as a series of neural networks trained with general information. One of the support…
New FishFAQ Video: Opposing Patents
There is a new FishFAQ video up on our Fish IP Law YouTube channel. This one covers opposing patents and answers questions about keeping track of competitors patents, how to oppose competing patent apps,…
New FishFAQ video: Valuing Patents
There is a new FishFAQ video up on our Fish IP Law YouTube channel. This one is on patent valuation and covers questions like what sort of due diligence is…
Patents on Transactions Using Cryptocurrency: Square versus PayPal
One of the challenges of patenting technology related to blockchain is that the subject matter is likely directed to one of the judicial exceptions (i.e., abstract ideas) that are not…
False Marking
What Is False Marking? False marking (distinct from false marketing) occurs when a product is falsely labeled as covered by an enforceable patent. Common Ways False Marking Occurs False marking…
Can an AI machine be an inventor?
Current Patent Office Position on AI Inventors Wow, fascinating issue, this one. For now the short answer is a simple “no”. And several patent offices across the globe have already…