If you’re a numbers person, you will love Haseltine Lake Kemper’s recent article From Filing to Opposition: What are the Statistics on Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Patents & Applications at the EPO. The author Frances Wilding presents very interesting statistics about European patent applications in IPC class G06N (the class stands for “computer systems based on specific computational models” and includes neural network models, learning methods, simulations and fuzzy logic).
What I find most interesting:
Explosive growth of AI patent applications at the EPO
Compared to the moderate growth rate in total European patent applications, AI-related patent filings are on an explosive trajectory.
Exponential times, anyone?
Grant rate rising, but still below average
The grant rate seems to have increased slowly over the years, reaching 40% in 2019. Compared to the overall grant rate of 69% for all European patent applications, it can be said that AI patent applications are on the more difficult side of things.
Little aggressive behavior
Only nine European AI patents in the data set from 2010 onwards have been attacked in an opposition.
There are many more helpful insights in the original article. Huge thanks go to Frances Wilding for compiling the data!