Expedited Patent Examination Program for Semiconductor Innovations Announced by the USPTO
Ellyar Y. Barazesh
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced a new program that expedites the examination of patent applications directed to semiconductor innovations. Coined the Semiconductor Technology Pilot Program, the program enables qualifying patent applications to be granted special status and examined on an expedited basis until a first office action issues. 
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New AI Patent Ruling in the UK Upends the International Patent Landscape 
Ted Chandler, Henry Metro* 
The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) will now allow certain Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations to be patented due to a recent decision from a UK High Court. This recent ruling has opened the door to patenting AI technology in the UK. As such, this is a particularly relevant time to examine the differences between the eligibility requirements for AI inventions in the US, UK, and European patent offices and their attitudes toward AI patents.
To read the full article, click here.

*Henry Metro, a law clerk at Baker Botts, assisted in the preparation of this article. 

This Month: Our Take on AI
Joseph Cahill 
AI and Copyright: Two recent court orders in Kadrey and Andersen provide a more straightforward path for entities leveraging AI training data that may include copyrighted works. These orders underscore early indications of a judicial trend requiring more substantive and specific allegations for copyright claims to proceed, particularly emphasizing the need for demonstrable similarity between AI outputs and copyrighted works. I break down more of the details here: "New Court Orders Reshape AI Copyright Issues."

IP Protection in UK and China: International IP protections for AI appear stronger after developments in the UK and China. The UK high court ruled on November 21 that Patent Examiners should no longer object to inventions related to Artificial Neural Networks ("ANNs") based upon the UK “program for a computer” exclusion rule. Separately, the Beijing Internet Court recognized copyright ownership had vested in the user of an AI image generation software. Nick Palmieri tackles both of these topics in "UKIPO Issues Guidance on Patent Applications Related to Artificial Neural Networks" and "Chinese Court Recognizes User as Copyright Owner of AI-generated Content," respectively.

EU AI Act: The EU is one step closer to finalizing the EU AI Act, which promises to be one of the first legal frameworks for Artificial Intelligence globally. Included in the new law is the creation of a centralized AI Office tasked with enforcement. I write about more of the highlights here: "The EU AI Act Is Coming. Here are Some Highlights."

December 2023 Intellectual Property Report Recap
In case you missed it, here is a video recap of our December 2023 Intellectual Property Report that looked at:

• Advertising Update: The FTC’s New Guidelines for Endorsements and Testimonials
• The Patent Office Aims to Increase Judicial Independence and Transparency With Proposed Rule and New SOP Addressing Pre-Issuance Review of PTAB Decisions 
• Recent Federal Circuit Guidance on Obviousness
• Anti-Suit Injunctions in Patent Litigation in the United States
• Blog: Our Take on AI

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