US inventors file more AI patents in UK than UK inventors: report
There are more US-based applicants filing for artificial intelligence (AI)-related patents in the UK than UK-based applicants, according to a report from the UK Intellectual Property (IPO).
The AI-focused report was released today, June 18, at a conference hosted in London by the IPO, in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
According to the IPO, the finding that more AI-related patent applications are made by US-based applicants and inventors than UK ones is “likely a reflection of the fact that many of the leading applicants are US-based technology companies, but it is still striking”.
This dataset doesn’t take into account applications made to the European Patent Office, and European patents make up most of the patents which are in force in the UK.
“The data for AI-related patents filed via the European Patent Office route displays a similar degree of dominance by the US, but with a significant contribution from Germany and Japan,” said the IPO.
The majority of inventors of AI-related are from the US with significantly fewer in other countries, added the report.
UK-based applicants and inventors are ranked sixth worldwide in terms of the absolute level of AI patenting activity, which compares favourably to the UK’s rankings in other technology areas. This is suggestive of an increasing UK presence in the growing field of AI, said the IPO.
Unsurprisingly, software companies such as IBM and Microsoft are some of the leading applicants in the space, along with manufacturing and consumer electronics firms including Philips and Sony.
AI technology is one of the four ‘grand challenges’ forming the UK government’s Industrial Strategy, which aims to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future and boost investment in research and development from 1.7% to 2.4% of gross domestic product by 2027.
Tim Moss, CEO of the IPO, said that AI is becoming “increasingly embedded into modern society, and is entering nearly every industrial sector”, with AI-related patenting activity more than doubling in the past decade.
Moss added: “This report highlights the role that patents, and IP more generally, have to play in facilitating this growth as the technology continues to develop. It provides a good basis for further research into the growth of AI at both the global and UK level.”
Over the past decade, there’s been an increase of more than 400% in the number of published AI patent applications worldwide. In the UK, patenting activity in the AI sector has more than doubled over the same period.
Worldwide, AI-related technologies account for an increasing proportion of patents filed―the UK took second place behind the US for countries which have shown the most rapid increase in the proportion of their patenting activity that relates to AI.
In contrast with the downward trend shown globally, speech recognition and audio-visual technology has accounted for an increasing proportion of AI patenting activity by UK-based applicants and inventors.
While the UK follows the global trend in electrical engineering areas for AI, there are sharp increases in telecoms and image processing, said the report.
“Transport accounts for a higher proportion of AI-related patents globally, but the UK shows a higher proportional increase in recent years; this could be attributed to the growing industry for autonomous vehicles in the UK,” added the IPO.
Approximately 88% of AI-related patents first filed in the UK are also protected elsewhere, compared with 53% of patents first filed in the US and 19% of patents first filed in China.
The higher percentage in the UK may reflect the geographical size of the UK compared to other countries, so UK-based applicants pursue larger markets that are available outside the UK, according to the IPO.
Ahead of the conference, Francis Gurry, director general of WIPO, said: “Artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering the human experience, with profound implications for the legal and regulatory regimes that underpin our communities. These include the IP systems that promote human innovation and creativity.”
He added: “Conferences like these help to create a common understanding of the IP issues surrounding AI.”
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