Artificial Intelligence Assists EPO Oral Examination

As we all know, artificial intelligence has supported the work of the European Patent Office (EPO) in the fields of classification, retrieval, machine translation, etc. Currently, a new pilot project has been launched by the EPO, which will use AI to help record the oral proceedings of the Examination and Opposition Department. If the trial is successful, it will promote the wider application of AI in the EPO starting in 2026.

From May 2025, the pilot project will allow examiners in selected examination and opposition departments to use AI technology when writing oral hearing records, thereby providing oral hearing records to all parties with higher efficiency and higher quality. Based on the full audio recording of the oral hearing procedure, EPO examiners can use AI to assist in writing, and the record will be deleted after being sent to all parties. The pilot program is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, after which the EPO will review its results, and AI-assisted oral hearing records and writing will be gradually applied to all oral hearing procedures in the examination and opposition departments.

In line with its 2028 strategic plan, the EPO is expanding the use of AI to more areas of the patent granting process.

For us at Beijing Yezhima, this shows future patent application and layout opportunities. Drawing on the European Patent Office's experience in applying AI technology, we can think about how to integrate AI more widely into the patent application process to improve efficiency and quality. When planning our patent strategy, the development of these emerging technologies is bound to provide us with more powerful tools to ensure that our intellectual property rights occupy a favorable position in the global market.