인공지능 관련 특허의 권리행사에 관한 실무적 고찰

In this article, the enforcement of patent rights related to artificial intelligence(AI) was studied through the actual cases of patent infringement and the confirmation trial for the scope of rights. In the hypothetical cases, patent claims were drafted based on the requirements of patent registration. As a result, the AI-related patent claims have been suggested to be drafted in the form of the PBP claims. However, when referring to the recent cases, the PBP claims are not suitable for the enforcement of the AI-related patent rights. Also, the determination of the scope of rights of AI-related patents is not different from its counterpart of non AI-related patents. Therefore, the patent claim drafting is suggested for the AI-related patents to enforce their right as following; First, the patent claims should emphasize the combination of each element rather than the feature of the AI-related element. Second, in order to enforce the rights of AI-related patents, the patent claims should be drafted using the input and the output of the AI-related element. The clarity requirement should be fulfilled in this instance. Third, each element should be written as a separate patent claim particularly in the case of a cloud computing technology. On the other hand, for the patents characterized by AI technology itself or its principles, it is expected to paly a role as defense patents to prevent the patent registrations of the competitors.