John Rogitz

Welcome back to Cool AI Patents of the Month, where we spotlight inventive developments at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property. In this installment, we take a look at two standout innovations—one that could transform how we watch sports, and another that may reshape how our vehicles understand the road ahead. Both illustrate how quickly AI is integrating itself into our daily lives.

Welcome to the very first installment of Cool AI Patents of the Month. Each month, we’ll look at some of the more eye-catching and creative ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) is showing up in innovations that themselves wind up represented in patents or patent applications. The goal isn’t to get overly technical, but to highlight technology that’s genuinely cool and thought-provoking — the kind of inventions that make you say, “Wow, that’s clever.”

In Ex parte Desjardins, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Appeals Review Panel (ARP) – which in this instance included Director John A. Squires, Acting Commissioner Valencia Martin Wallace, and Vice Chief Judge Michael W. Kim – considered a claim directed to training machine learning models. This decision has already been celebrated by many in the IP community for the positive impact it could have for patent applicants and patentees, and indeed this was a great way for Director Squires to make his presence known straight out of the gate.

When Duck Hunt landed in living rooms in 1984, it brought with it one of gaming’s most iconic peripherals: the NES Zapper. But the magic behind aiming a plastic gun at a screen and hitting an 8-bit duck was more than a gimmick. It was the product of pioneering technology—the likes of which have led to a stream of patents for each new generation of game hardware.

As John Squires heads out of committee and toward full Senate confirmation to become the next Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), there are a few things he could do at the outset to make an immediate impact. Top of the list would be re-instituting an after-final consideration program similar to the After-Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 that was eliminated by former Director Kathi Vidal. This would lower the cost of getting a patent when allowance is close.