“Whatever under the sun.”
It was a standard set in 1980 when US Supreme Court He ruled in the indisputable fact that the intention of Congress was “everything under the sun, which is patented.”
Except Alice …
However, in 2014, this standard was intended for latest framework used to determine the patent eligibility: Alice.
In the Supreme Court, he considered that the patent quality of business method technology ought to be determined on the basis of whether patent claims protecting these technologies of the business method were only “abstract ideas”.
If so, these patent claims wouldn’t reach the threshold subject to patenting the subject. This is reasonably ironic, because patent claims are actually the abstraction of your personal invention to its basic features or elements.
Nevertheless, despite Alice’s decision regarding business methods, it was widely understood that it was used to software. The patent practitioners stunned this decision because while the courts and Patent Office and Trademarks in the USA He annulled or denied patent claims, which they considered abstract, there was no definition or the principle of a brilliant line, which explained what it means to be an abstract idea.
Guidelines for patent eligibility
In the light of such uncertainty, in 2014-2016 and again in 2019, Potto published guidelines for patent eligibility.
These guidelines included examples of patent claims, which were previously considered patented and inconceivable, in addition to explanations about why they qualified for the patent or not. Then the patent practitioners were left to argue about or against viator patent claims based on these examples/explanations.
Fast forward until 2024/2025
While the patent practitioners felt comfortable with the latest established order and learned how to maneuver around – or use – the Alice standard (depending on the side you were on), a latest technology appeared: AI.
The Alice standard often comes into play, trying to protect technology based on artificial intelligence, because the final function of AI is to create results, predict or generate answers in the same way as the human mind.
Unfortunately, one of the vague features of an abstract idea was recognized as the ability of the human mind, using pen and paper, to perform operations that are performed by the computer. That is why Pocket has updated its previous suggestions with latest examples addressed to AI.
Examples
Probably some of the most destructive technologies appeared in the field of software and calculations, and due to this fact also AI.
If you are an entrepreneur or founding father of a technological startup interested in protecting your innovations (applicant), understanding these examples might be helpful in obtaining the desired patent protection.
In 2025, we found that examples 47 and 48 ensure an effective approach to arguments that innovation in AI space is patented.
- Example 47 – anomalies detection: Claim 1 is an effective example for applicants who can quote during the argument of the patent eligibility of software -based AI inventions, which described specific hardware elements in the claim, because such components do not recite any abstract ideas, ending the evaluation. In this fashion, try to direct at least some claims regarding the patent application for system architecture and implementation details. Similarly, theorem 3 might be useful when arguing that the innovation improves the functionality of the computer or improves the technological field, i.e. make sure you describe how your technology actually constitutes an advantage over what has been done earlier, and that the improvement is specified in the language of claims. In contrast to this, relying on software processing functions 2 and “general” computer without a description of improvements or how the software achieves processing functions, condemns a claim to the land of blindness. In other words, focus on how, not only on the or the final functionality of your technology.
- Example 48 – speech chapter: Focus on the statement 2, which was considered qualifying patent, because creating a latest speech signal that now not accommodates foreign signals from unwanted sources is a practical application of what would otherwise be an abstract idea. AI is often used for a faster, higher, higher, more powerful application or lower processing – make sure you describe at least some aspect of improving this lower application or a claim process.