Patent attorneys spend a lot of time explaining two deceptively simple concepts: novelty and obviousness. Both rise and fall on one thing: prior art. Most inventors assume prior art means a patent or some obscure technical paper written by someone surviving on cold brew and conference coffee.
That assumption is wrong.
Prior art is anything
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear Dr. Stephen Thaler’s appeal seeking copyright protection for his AI‑generated artwork A Recent Entrance to Paradise. The decision allows to stand the long series of administrative and judicial rulings holding that a work created autonomously by an AI system cannot be protected by copyright under U.S.
Artificial intelligence may be global, but patent eligibility remains stubbornly local. A recent decision out of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom seems to have nudged UK practice for computer-implemented inventions closer to the approach historically taken by the European Patent Office. The decision lowers the threshold for exclusion from patentability, reducing the likelihood
On February 20, 2026, Gadgets, Gigabytes and Goodwill Blog co-editor Owen Wolfe spoke at the Fordham School of Law as part of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal Symposium, The Meaning of Ownership: Rethinking Intellectual Property, Creativity, and Control in the Age of Innovation. Owen discussed how courts have so far applied
Every year has its “it” term.
In 2025, the crown belonged to AI, and rightfully so. AI dominated the headlines, flooded the USPTO’s dockets, and triggered more §101 rejections than any examiner would care to admit. If you worked in tech, you had to talk about AI. If you worked in patent law, you likely
Introduction
A collision is on the horizon. The collision is between a strict interpretation of the human authorship requirement under U.S. copyright law, and the ascendence of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) as an essential element of modern creativity. From publishing and advertising to music, film, media, and software development, AI systems are reshaping workflows
When Dr. Stephen Thaler asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the human authorship requirement for copyright protection last month, many observers dismissed the effort. Thaler’s claim—that his generative AI system should be recognized as the author of its own outputs—has been consistently rejected by courts and the Copyright Office. On its face, Dr. Thaler’s
Another day and another change at the USPTO. On October 8, the USPTO announced an Artificial Intelligence Pilot Program for pre-examination searches. Last week, on October 24, the USPTO followed with the Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program aimed at accelerating examination through simplified claim structures. Together, these initiatives reflect Director John Squires’ drive to modernize
Tomorrow, October 9, 2025, Lauren Leipold and Owen Wolfe, Intellectual Property Partners at Seyfarth, will be speaking at the WIPR AI & IP Summit in New York.
Lauren and Owen will take part in the session “AI vs Copyright: Tackle the New Creative Battleground,” which will examine how generative AI is disrupting traditional copyright
Starting January 1, 2026, California’s AI Transparency Act (SB 942) goes into effect, marking the first law in the U.S. to require built-in disclosures and detection tools for generative AI content. Do not panic (yet). This law does not apply to every system out there. In fact, many companies may be surprised to find they’re