How AI Is Turbocharging the Patent Process
Data volumes continue to grow at exponential rates, and handling big data effectively is a challenge across almost every legal function. This continued surge of data compels the legal industry to examine ways to leverage data and technology to streamline legal tasks and create more efficient and intelligent platforms for collaboration.
According to Thomson Reuters’ “Report on the State of the Legal Market,” over the last few years, law firms that proactively address the needs of their clients – e.g., by adopting work process changes or making better use of innovative technologies – can achieve significant success.
Unlocking Huge Areas of Information
AI-driven language solutions trained for specific industries can retrieve, process, translate, and synthesize huge amounts of multilingual information in a consistent way, including domains such as patents.
When applied to Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) algorithms can unlock vital information. The patent process is notoriously slow – patents can be approved years after a product has launched – and AI has the potential to speed it up.
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Focus on Words
According to Arie Blokland, Senior European Patent Attorney and Partner at AOMB Intellectual Property, “Words are the most important thing in patents. Patent attorneys are always keen on words. However, these words have different meanings in different languages. You have to describe technical words in a legal document—you must use words that both the judge and the patent examiner understands.”
Of utmost importance is consistency in words, as well as an awareness of naïve keyword searches. A patent attorney will focus on words that are inconsistently used – they will see it as a weak spot and can potentially destroy the patent. Patent jargon, as shown in the examples below, is used to broaden the scope of the patent.
Global Patents
Getting multilingual documents translated is very important in the patent process. For the sheer volume of materials in global patents, AI can help enable productivity. AI gives patent attorneys the opportunity to potentially retrieve and understand ALL documents in the world. With AI-enabled technology, you can conduct a uniform prior art search to help validate a patent.
If you introduce AI into the global patent process, the quality of patents will improve since the patent examiner can take into account any document in any language. In addition, the search reports produced by the national IP offices will be more complete and more consistent, which in turn will speed up a slow patent granting process.
Streamlining Processes
Although the human side of the legal industry remains a crucial component, digital transformation can effectively improve the delivery of legal services in practical and innovative ways.
In our webinar, How AI is Turbocharging the Patent Process, we share more about the technologies available to help streamline the global patent process. It is available now on-demand.
Contact Welocalize today to learn how we can help streamline the e-discovery process that includes multilingual data and documents.
