USPTO Seeking to Implement AI Tools to Aid Examination of Patents; John Squires Advances Toward Senate Confirmation for USPTO Director

1. USPTO Seeking to Implement AI Tools to Aid Examination of Patents

On June 4, 2025, the USPTO published a Request for Information and Notice of Vendor Engagement titled “Automated Solutions (Including Artificial Intelligence) for USPTO” (the “RFI”). The RFI indicates that “the USPTO will be acquiring significant new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the coming months to assist patent examiners and trademark examining attorneys as well as reduce patent and trademark pendency. The USPTO is seeking American industry partners motivated to help improve the patent and trademark examination processes and fuel a national transformation of AI infrastructure with the goal of reducing application backlogs and protecting applicant data from domestic and foreign IP theft.” In addition, the RFI requests information concerning “Information Technology (IT) solutions that could improve efficiency in the patent and trademark examining processes.”

A Statement of Objectives accompanying the RFI indicates that “the exponential growth of prior art and tremendous pace of technological innovation make it increasingly more difficult to quickly discover the most relevant prior art.” To strengthen its search capabilities, the USPTO indicates that it “has been developing and implementing advanced information technology systems and AI to enhance the suite of tools available to patent examiners and the public. The USPTO has AI-based patent search capabilities along with a roadmap for future development but recognizes that integrating more advanced technology solutions offers unique opportunities to leapfrog forward to further enhance patent search capabilities and further strengthen the patent system.”

To achieve the above goals, the USPTO asked potential vendors to provide information concerning technological solutions relating to the following tasks:

(1) conducting a search of the prior art with respect to the claimed invention, including a search of domestic patents, foreign patents, and non-patent literature;

(2) comparing the results of the prior art search to the claims;

(3) providing notations of where claim elements are found in the prior art;

(4) providing citations of relevant prior art that are applicable to novelty and non-obviousness; and

(5) generating a final report listing claims with the relevant prior art mapped thereto, which may mirror the format of U.S. Office Actions or the format of reports under PCT Chapters I and II.

The RFI and its accompanying documents may be obtained at the following link:

https://sam.gov/opp/7e5d38aa275542da847d9cbf948ab459/view

2. John Squires Advances Toward Senate Confirmation for USPTO Director

On June 12, 2025 the members of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary voted to advance Mr. John Squires nomination to become the next Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Squires was nominated for these roles by President Trump on March 10. His Senate Judiciary hearing occurred on May 21. 

Mr. Squires responded to written inquiries from members of the committee in connection with the May 21 hearing. In particular, Mr. Squires expressed agreement with the RFI’s goal of implementing the use of AI tools to aid the examination of patents and to reduce the backlog of pending applications. He stated, for example, that “I believe leaning-in to AI here can help at all stages insofar as patent quality. At the front end, best-in-class AI software should be evaluated as an adjunct to assist the Patent Examiners’ evaluation of whether a patent application satisfies patentability standards. Indeed, the private sector increasingly uses AI software to find invalidating prior art. Our world-class Examining Corps should have access to and where helpful utilize these same tools. This would promote patent quality at the front end and, in fact, discourage applicants from filing weak patent applications, thereby introducing an element of self-regulation and concomitant backlog reduction.” 

Mr. Squire’s responses to the written inquiries also expressed support for reform in the area of patent subject matter eligibility. Here, he noted that “the area of patent eligibility suffers from clarity of precedent and sews confusion and uncertainty into our patent system. This uncertainty clouds patents, erodes confidence in our system, and is leading to a lack of American competitiveness particularly in AI and critical emerging technologies. I agree that clarity is needed and the lack of clarity is compromising our world standing and threatens our national security. If confirmed, I look forward to working with Congress and this Committee to ensure our patent laws meet the moment and serve both inventors and the Nation at large.” 

Mr. Squires’ testimony before the committee and his responses to the written inquiries may be found at the following link: 

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/05/21/2025/nominations