인공지능(AI)을 이용한 연구개발과 특허보호 방안

This Article explores the pressing legal and policy question of whether—and under what conditions—artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted inventions qualify for patent protection, as AI technologies play an increasingly significant role in research and development (R&D). Recent advancements—particularly the integration of large-scale language models into vertical and physical AI systems through customization technologies— have expanded AI's role in generating potentially patentable outputs. While jurisdictions such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union generally recognize AI-assisted inventions as patentable when there is a substantial human contribution, South Korea’s approach remains underdefined. Although Korea’s Technical Examination Practice Guide acknowledges * Senior Director (J.S.D.), Trademark Examination Policy Division, Ministry of Intellectual Property, South Korea. AI-assisted inventions, it lacks clear standard s for determining when such inventions should be attributed to human inventors. To ensure effective patent protection for AI-assisted inventions under Korean law, this Article proposes the following three measures to enhance legal clarity and consistency. First, the Technical Examination Practice Guide should provide clearer standards for what constitutes a ‘substantial human contribution,’ including how the human-conceived concept and invention topic must be described. Second, the ‘Applicant’ and ‘Inventor’ sections of the patent application should identify the natural person(s) who meaningfully contributed to the AI-assisted inventions. Third, the technical configuration enabled by AI should be adequately disclosed: the specification must describe concrete examples in the ‘Description of the Invention’ section, and corresponding embodiments should be reflected in the claims.