人工智能发明在欧洲的专利保护

Patent Protection for AI Inventions in Europe

欧洲是我国企业最为重要的海外市场之一,深入研究欧洲最新专利审查标准,对我国企业在欧洲获权和维权具有重要意义。近年来人工智能领域的专利申请增长迅猛,欧洲专利局(European Patent Office,EPO)通过申诉委员会的最新判例,并适应性修改审查指南,及时回应了产业界的关切,即“任意技术手段”或“任意硬件”判断欧洲专利公约((European Patent Convention,EPC))第52条的客体,“具体的技术应用”或“具体的技术实施”判断EPC第56条的创造性,以期提高创新者和投资者对人工智能相关发明在欧洲可专利性的预期。

Europe is one of the most important overseas markets for Chinese firms,and an in-depth study of the latest European patent examination standards is of great significance for Chinese firms to obtain and enforce patent rights in Europe.With the recent dramatic growth of patent applications in the field of artificial intelligence,the European Patent Office(EPO)has responded to the concerns of the industry in a timely manner through the latest decisions of its Boards of Appeal and the amendments of the guidelines for examination,namely,"any technical means"or"any hardware"to evaluate patentable inventions of the European Patent Convention(EPC)Art.52 and"specific technical application"or"specific technical implementation"to determine the inventive step of EPC Art.52,so as to meet the expectations of innovators and investors on the patentability of AI-related inventions in Europe.