{"id":2116,"date":"2019-01-29T15:42:23","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T14:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.snaptest.it\/?post_type=approfondimenti&#038;p=2116"},"modified":"2019-01-29T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T14:42:23","slug":"artificial-intelligence-and-automatic-learning-machines-what-can-be-protected-and-how","status":"publish","type":"approfondimenti","link":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/approfondimenti\/artificial-intelligence-and-automatic-learning-machines-what-can-be-protected-and-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence and automatic learning machines: what can be protected and how"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Artificial intelligence as a mathematical method<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Artificial intelligence and automatic learning machines become patentable when they are linked to a specific technological application.<\/p>\n<p>Without it, these computational models and algorithms cannot be protected by patents as they are mere <strong>abstract concepts<\/strong> with a mathematical nature.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it enough to simply add an electronic device<a href=\"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/ip-strategy\/patents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> to patent <\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<strong>an artificial intelligence?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>No. Artificial intelligence should give a <strong>technical contribution<\/strong> to the invention and cannot be a later artificial addition. Moreover, the invention entailing artificial intelligence should have a technical nature.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When does artificial intelligence have a technical nature?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Some examples may help elucidating the matter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An <strong>artificial neural network<\/strong> used in an electronic device monitoring the heartbeat in order to identify irregular beats has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Classification algorithms <\/strong>ranking digital images, videos, audio and voice signals based on technical features of low resolution and quality, and that are difficult to distinguish, have a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence <strong>controlling an X-ray device<\/strong> or a metal cooling process has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence setting the number of passes required to a <strong>compaction equipment<\/strong> in order to obtain the desired material density has technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An <strong>artificial intelligence improving or analyzing<\/strong> a digital audio, image or video, for example by reducing the noise, detecting people in a digital picture, or assessing the quality of a transmitted digital audio signal has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence <strong>cleaning up<\/strong> background noises in <strong>audio files<\/strong> has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence <strong>identifying and transcribing words<\/strong> has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence <strong>codifying and decoding<\/strong>, encrypting or decrypting data for effective and reliable transmission and storage has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence optimizing a <strong>network load distribution<\/strong> has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence <strong>defining a subject\u2019s energy expenditure<\/strong> by processing data obtained through physiological sensors, deducing the subject\u2019s body temperature thanks to the data gathered with a heat detector in his\/her ear has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<li>An artificial intelligence providing a <strong>person\u2019s genotype estimation<\/strong> based on the analysis of DNA samples, and giving a confidence interval of this estimation in order to assess its reliability, has a technical nature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Can educational methods for artificial intelligence be protected?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is possible <a href=\"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/ip-strategy\/patents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to patent<\/a> \u00a0 training methods for artificial intelligence as long as they have a <strong>technical nature. <\/strong>When a classification method pursues a technical purpose, then the passages to generate a training sample educating artificial intelligence may contribute to the invention\u2019s technical nature, if it supports the fulfillment of such technical purpose.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When is it <u>not<\/u> possible to get <a href=\"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/ip-strategy\/patents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a patent<\/a>?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>An artificial intelligence classifying text documents only for their <strong>textual content<\/strong> is not patentable, as it pursues a mere linguistic purpose and not a technical one.<\/p>\n<p>An artificial intelligence <strong>classifying records of abstract data <\/strong>or telecommunication networks data with no indication of a technical use of the resulting classification is not patentable because it does not have a technical nature.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Can the results obtained thanks to artificial intelligence can somehow be protected?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Databases or results extracted through the use of some artificial intelligence can be protected by <a href=\"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/ip-strategy\/know-how\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Trade Secret<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What if nothing can be patented?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If artificial intelligence or automatic learning machines are not patentable, it is still possible to protect the research and development in two ways with regard to the specific case at hand: either by <strong>making the algorithm secret<\/strong> with a software protection procedure, or by <strong>protecting the source code <\/strong>as codified by <a href=\"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/ip-strategy\/copyright\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">copyright law<\/a>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Links<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epo.org\/law-practice\/legal-texts\/html\/guidelines2018\/e\/g_ii_3_3_1.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, Guidelines for Examination, EPO<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epo.org\/law-practice\/legal-texts\/html\/guidelines2018\/e\/g_ii_3_6.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Programs for computers, Guidelines for Examination, EPO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","area":[6],"news-argomento":[54,89],"news-tipologia":[43],"class_list":["post-2116","approfondimenti","type-approfondimenti","status-publish","hentry","area-ip-strategy","news-argomento-research-and-development","news-argomento-patent","news-tipologia-insights"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/approfondimenti\/2116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/approfondimenti"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/approfondimenti"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/approfondimenti\/2116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area?post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"news-argomento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-argomento?post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"news-tipologia","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barzano-zanardo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tipologia?post=2116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}