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AIと弁理士の協働による進歩性判断−先行特許文献調査システムの発明現場への導入−

Author(s)白坂, 一CitationIssue Date

2021‑03

TypeThesis or Dissertation

Text version

ETDURLhttp://hdl.handle.net/10119/17468

RightsDescription

Supervisor:神田陽治, 先端科学技術研究科, 博士

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Ab str ac t
This study is directed to a cooperation between artificial intelligence (AI)a n d p a t e n t a t t o r n e y s i n d e t e r m i n i n g i n v e n t i v e s t e p . N o r m a l l y, t h e i n v e n t o r c o n s u l t s
with a patent attorney for acquiring a patent.

The patent attorney conducts a priorart search for the subject invention to find the closest documents and determine
w h e t h e r t h e i n v e n t i o n i s n o v e l , w h i c h i s o b j e c t i v e n o v e l t y, o r w h e t h e r i t h a sinventive step, which indicates that the invention is not easy for a person with an
ordinary skill in the art.

In the prior art search, the patent attorney designes asearch expression, narrows down the large number of prior patent documents to afew hundred prior patent documents, and then reads them to compare the target
invention with the narrowed prior patent documents to find which potion of thetarget invention is novel over the narrowed prior patent documents .

The patent

attorney then, from the viewpoint of inventive step, determines the quality ofcreativity of the invention on the baisis of his/her own knowledge and experience.
This tacit knowledge determination ability is referred to as “intuitive grasp ofpatentability” in this thesis.

The patent attorney

becomes proficient in

this“intuitive grasp of patentability” by accumulating their legal knowledge, technicalknowledge from obtained by reading many prior patent documents, and experienceobtained by filing patent applications to achieve patent rights.
On the other hand, with the rapid progress of AI technology in recent years,
we have discovered the possibility of instantly searching prior patent documents
anddetermininginventive

step

using

naturallanguageprocessing,developed an AI-equipped prior patent document search system.

andhave

To p r e v e n t t h e A I

from turning into a black box, the prior patent document search system includes afunction that clearly shows the relationship between the target invention and theprior patent documents by outputting the data in the form of a claim chart, which isusedbypatentexperts

todetermine

inventivestep.

H o w e v e r,

althoughtheeffectiveness of this prior patent document search system was verified and a certain
level of effectiveness was observ ed, it was not always well accepted by patent
attorneys that are in the field of invention.
Therefore, the present study is novel in that it explores what factors, otherthan the knowledge and experience, contribute to patent attorneys’ “intuitive graspof patentability” when the prior patent document search system is introduced to thefield of invention, and suggests that the use of AI makes this ability more proficientand enables collaboration between the AI and patent attorneys.

K e y w o r d : A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e , I n v e n t i v e S t e p , P a t e n t A t t o r n e y,Invention, Claim Chart