- within Intellectual Property topic(s)
- in United States
- within Intellectual Property topic(s)
Recently, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) briefed on the relevant situation of using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve patent examination at a regular press conference in June 2025 and the serial themed press conference on "high-quality completion of the 14th Five-Year Plan".
In 2022, the CNIPA launched the work on the construction of a patent intelligent examination and search system in an effort to continuously improve system functions in conjunction with the iterative upgrade process of artificial intelligence. In January 2023, the new examination system officially went online, delivering such technical functions as online translation, graphic recognition, and intelligent comparison, enabling examiners to reduce repetitive work and focus on addressing technology issues in their examination for the purpose to improve the examination quality and efficiency.
With the development of large model technology, the CNIPA has initiated research on its application, selecting five scenarios of patent examination to carry out the verification work, and building a flexible and scalable intelligent examination system architecture in the form of "platform+modules". In early July this year, multiple modules like large model search, AI academic assistant, and AI legal assistant have been officially launched, and currently the entire system is operating smoothly with desired results.
In the field of patent search, the CNIPA has trained a large model specifically designed for searches. Testing has shown a significant improvement in the reference detection rate, which further saves search time and enhances work efficiency. In terms of aiding technical understanding, they have collaborated with technology literature service organizations to provide examiners with relevant technical knowledge related to applications through natural language dialogue, to help them understand the technical background and comprehend the developmental context, thereby accelerating the examination process. Regarding the application of law, they have integrated resources such as laws and regulations, guiding cases, and training courses to build a specialized knowledge base. They have realized functions like legal text search and case analysis through intelligent Q&A and logical reasoning with the large model, enhancing the legal application capabilities of examiners and providing legal support for sound examination conclusion making.
The CNIPA also emphasizes that use of AI in patent examination serves an auxiliary role, and the reasoning results it produces should not be directly used as examination opinions. In practice, examiners must make objective examination conclusions under the provisions laid down in the Patent Law, Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law, and the Guidelines for Patent Examination.
Next, the CNIPA will further explore the AI application in the examination work, assisting examiners to better understand inventive concepts, making technical analysis more quickly, and drawing examination conclusions more accurately to continuously meet the diverse needs of the innovators with high-quality and refined examination.
Source: the China National Intellectual Property Administration
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
