Patent AI

BakerHostetler released a podcast in April 2026 synthesizing the USPTO's evolving approach to artificial intelligence across patent operations, policy, and practice. The discussion centers on the agency's January 2025 Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which established five pillars: fostering responsible AI innovation, enhancing intellectual property policies, building AI infrastructure, promoting ethical use, and developing workforce expertise. The strategy builds on Executive Order 14110 (October 2023), which directed the USPTO to issue guidance on AI inventorship and patent eligibility. The agency has since revised its inventorship standards to require significant human contribution and bar AI as an independent inventor, and updated patent eligibility determinations under the Alice/Mayo framework in July 2024. Internally, the USPTO deployed SCOUT, a generative AI tool used by over 200 examiners for prior art analysis and cybersecurity tasks.

Holland & Knight LLP warned on April 14, 2026, that patent filings in AI, blockchain, autonomous vehicles, drones, and biotechnology are creating predictable litigation traps. Startups in these sectors file aggressively to signal IP strength to investors, but high failure rates leave valuable foundational patents orphaned. These assets migrate to institutional investors and patent assertion entities, which then sue the companies that successfully commercialized the underlying technology—often wielding standard-essential or broadly applicable patents that generate substantial damages.

Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C. published the first installment of a four-part series on April 20, 2026, examining how artificial intelligence is reshaping patent strategy across the life sciences sector. The series addresses AI's impact on due diligence, prosecution, transactions, and litigation while arguing that human judgment remains essential to effective patent work. The publication arrives as the USPTO, under Director John Squires, continues advancing pro-AI patent eligibility initiatives following its August 2025 guidance affirming that AI inventions are patentable and its November 2025 clarification that AI tools do not disqualify human inventors—treating them analogously to laboratory equipment.

VDPP, LLC, a non-practicing entity holding expired U.S. Patent 9,426,452 B2 for 3D display technology, sued Volkswagen Group of America in August 2023 in the Southern District of Texas over alleged infringement in Volkswagen's surround-view camera systems. Volkswagen moved to dismiss, arguing that VDPP failed to comply with the patent marking requirements under 35 U.S.C. §287(a) necessary to recover pre-suit damages. The patent had expired in 2022. Volkswagen also noted that VDPP had previously settled with 11 other defendants under agreements that included denial-of-infringement clauses and imposed no marking obligations. In March 2024, Chief Judge Lee H. Rosenthal granted Volkswagen's motion, dismissed the case with prejudice, denied VDPP's request to amend its complaint as futile, and awarded attorneys' fees against both VDPP and its counsel, William Ramey.

A U.S. district court has dismissed FMReps Consulting Enterprises' patent infringement lawsuit against Ford Motor Company, invalidating two patents under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to unpatentable abstract ideas. FMReps alleged that Ford's certified pre-owned vehicle inspection and approval software infringed its patents covering computerized processes for vehicle certification. The court ruled that the patents merely automated traditional dealership workflows using routine computer functions—dashboards, real-time data displays, role-based access controls, and tabbed interfaces—which does not satisfy patent eligibility standards under Supreme Court and Federal Circuit precedent.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office extended its Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program on April 17, 2026, pushing the petition deadline from April 20 to June 1, or until each of its Technology Centers reaches 400 granted applications. The program offers eligible applicants an automated, AI-assisted prior art search before substantive examination begins. Applicants who participate receive an Automated Search Results Notice listing up to 10 ranked references pulled from domestic and international patent databases. The notice is informational only and requires no response. To qualify, applicants must file original, noncontinuing, nonprovisional utility applications electronically through Patent Center. The USPTO waived petition fees in March and raised program capacity to 3,200 applications to encourage participation.

On April 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas vacated a preliminary injunction in Yue v. Reaction Labs, LLC, finding that a USPTO rejection of all 18 claims in U.S. Patent No. 11,972,881 constituted a changed circumstance that undermined the patent owner's likelihood of success on the merits. The court ruled that the non-final office action raising substantial questions of patent validity was enough to overturn its earlier decision granting the injunction to Lup, the patent owner, against counter-defendants Reaction Labs and Yue.

Patlytics, an AI platform for patent lifecycle management, closed a $40 million Series B funding round led by SignalFire. The round included N47, Myriad Venture Partners, Relativity, Alumni Ventures, Antiportfolio Ventures, and BAM Corner Point, bringing total funding to approximately $65 million since the company's founding less than two and a half years ago. The New York-based firm, led by CEO Paul Lee, counts over 40% of the Am Law 100 among its customers, along with corporate IP teams at Rivian, Xerox, and Canon.