Emotional Perception AI Limited v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, [2026] UKSC 3
2026-02-11
Read full decision. Summary prepared by Alan Macek:
This appeal is about whether it is possible to patent a particular type of what may loosely be called artificial intelligence, specifically that which consists of, resides in, or is centred around, an artificial neural network (“ANN”). … We have [concluded] that the EPO’s “any hardware approach” should be applied. … Although the claimed method involves an ANN which is a program for a computer, it also involves technical means because the ANN can only be implemented on some form of computer hardware. … it is said that the intermediate step of establishing whether a feature contributes to the technical character of the invention “serves as a filter for features contributing to a technical solution of a technical problem in view of the closest prior art. … The sole criterion is whether the feature contributes to the technical character of the invention as a whole. Thus, technical features may be filtered out because they make no such contribution and non-technical features may be left in because they do make such a contribution.