Webinar: Masterclass – AI Prompt Engineering for Patent Workflows

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.

The EPO and IP Australia are launching a new PCT pilot programme on 1 March 2026 which will allow Australian applicants to designate the EPO as their International Searching and Preliminary Examining Authorities (ISA and IPEA). 

Given the EPO’s rigorous approach to clarity and support requirements, for this pilot programme to succeed, Australian applicants and patent practitioners will have to adapt to draft international applications with EPO-specific requirements in mind.

The launch of this pilot programme will add a new layer of complexity — (and opportunity) for patent practitioners. In a landscape where jurisdictional nuance can shape international search and examination outcomes, AI‑augmented tools such as Solve Intelligence's Patent Copilot^TM are becoming increasingly valuable.

We are excited to welcome Joshua Davenport, Shareholder at Banner Witcoff, to Solve Intelligence’s Customer Advisory Board.

AI is now a daily tool for many patent attorneys; from drafting assistance to prior art searches. But questions about inventorship and ethics persist. Courts and patent offices worldwide continue to grapple with whether AI can be considered an inventor, and the recent November 2025 USPTO guidance has brought fresh clarity to this evolving area.

This article explores where the line is drawn between AI as a tool and AI as an inventor, and how attorneys can use AI responsibly while meeting their professional obligations.

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