Insights from the 2023 Robot Patent Drafting Conference: The Future of AI in Patent Law

In 2024, the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (epi) published its Guidelines on the Use of Generative AI in the Work of Patent Attorneys. These Guidelines provide practical guardrails for the responsible use of generative AI in patent practice, reaffirming that professional responsibility, confidentiality, and transparency remain central when AI tools are used.

In our earlier blog post, we outlined the key principles set out in the epi Guidelines. Since then, the Guidelines themselves have not changed. However, the use of AI in patent workflows has continued to mature, and so has Solve Intelligence.

This update highlights how Solve Intelligence supports compliance with the epi Guidelines in day-to-day practice, focusing on concrete product capabilities and supporting processes.

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping patent practice, but adopting it swiftly, efficiently and securely is where most firms get stuck. Patent professionals know the productivity upside to using gen AI tools, yet often get derailed when informal experiments run into real-world problems: client confidentiality concerns, inferior work-product quality, delayed internal approvals, and decision-fatigue.

This guide lays out a practical, 30-day plan for adopting AI in patent work, moving from ad hoc trials to a controlled, firm-ready strategy. It shows how you can run a focused pilot, set clear guardrails, train attorneys, and document decisions in a way that satisfies partners, clients, and internal stakeholders.

Hauptman Ham is redefining patent prosecution with Solve Intelligence. By integrating AI-driven workflows into their patent practice, Hauptman Ham attorneys and agents are delivering office action responses that set a new standard—precise, insightful, and creatively crafted. Their clients are gaining a strategic edge with more innovative outcomes that stand out in a competitive landscape.  

Firm leader Ron Embry describes the value of Solve Intelligence in Hauptman Ham’s patent practice.

“The Patent Copilot system allows practitioners at Hauptman Ham to use more creative strategies in pursuit of broad, defensible patent claims for our clients. We use the advanced functionality of the Solve Intelligence system to explore multiple potential avenues in responding to rejections and prosecuting families of patent applications. We find the tool to be quite useful in integrating different legal strategies into one unified, comprehensive, and nuanced approach to obtaining patent protection for our clients.”

The European Patent Office has published a preview of its Guidelines for Examination, effective April 2026. This update incorporates the landmark Enlarged Board decisions G 1/24 (claim interpretation) and G 1/23 (products on the market), alongside a significant change of practice for selection inventions, new rules on colour drawings, and the EPO's first formal guidance on artificial intelligence.