Patents that can pull the foot of AI · deep learning into "the foolish patent of the month" are chosen

Electronic Frontier Foundation"We are announcing monthly"Stupid Patent of the MonthAs the September 2017 edition of this month's most foolish patent, a patent acquired by an American high-tech food company was chosen. The Foundation points out that this patent may "impede AI and machine learning innovation."

Stupid Patent of the Month: Will Patents Slow Artificial Intelligence? | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/ja/deeplinks/2017/09/stupid-patent-month-will-patents-slow-artificial-intelligence

EFF: Stupid patents are dragging down AI and machine learning | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/eff-stupid-patents-are-dragging-down-ai-and-machine-learning/

"Current patent system does not conform to the software world"I have been saying different thingsThe Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that a number of patents are patent trolling, the fact that the name is also the driving force of "patent goro", and as a result, many technologies are not fully utilized.

Such a foundation certified as "the most silly patent" in September, 2017, is a high-tech food makerHampton Creek"Discovery systems for identifying entities that have a target property" (a discovery system that identifies entities with desired characteristics).

Patent US 9760834 - Discovery systems for identifying entities that have a target property - Google Patent Search
https://www.google.com/patents/US9760834

This technology is to discover inclusions contained in food using machine learning, but since the scope included in the patent is too wide, other technologies are likely to conflict with this patent And Daniel Nazer lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation point out. Since the technology similar to the already existing machine learning algorithm is described in the claims part describing the contents of patented technology, this patent covers a wide range, which is why Nazer "In our opinion, the content written in this patent document is like the table of contents of the textbook" AI technical guidance ", as if it were a patent applied arbitrarily I'm making comments to ask you.


Nazer, on the other hand, states that the patent of Hampton Creek is not so bad compared to other patents chosen as "the foolish patent of the month", but the reason for choosing this patent is " Because there is a possibility of causing problems in innovation. " In the United States, it is said that there are circumstances where patents are given to "computers that count votes" and "computer to calculate calories", and there is a sense of crisis that patents which should not be allowed to exist in the future exist It seems to be embracing.

A spokeswoman for Hampton Creek said he refused comment. It was announced in early SeptemberPress releaseAmong them, this patent states that it integrates the company's unparalleled robotics technology, proprietary plant database, artificial intelligence, prediction model, etc. into a system called "Blackbird".