Caution against use of AI tools for patent searching and drafting

The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) has recently issued guidance on the use of AI tools for patent searching and drafting. See this link for more information.

Whilst such tools can appear to be very helpful for conducting searching of your ideas, or for getting a rough idea of patent claims, the article reminds us that using such tools can destroy confidentiality and create other complications, since inventions that are entered into non-confidential AI tools can be treated as ‘disclosed to the public’.

The consequence of sharing your ideas or information with AI tools is that you could unintentionally lose the ability to patent your idea, since most patent systems require the invention to be genuinely new (not publicly disclosed) at the time of filing.

We advise great caution in using such tools and would always recommend that you consult us before considering using such a tool.