How A Top Lawyer’s Degrees In Mathematics And Physics Helped Him Adapt His Big Law Firm To Legal Tech Developments

Fish & Richardson Director Michael Portnov was interviewed by the Corporate Counsel Business Journal for the article “Staying Ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Curve”.

Corporate Counsel Business Journal: How did you get into patent work for Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Michael Portnov: I’ve been working with AI and machine learning technologies for about eight years. When I started, deep learning was just becoming a viable technology and landed on my plate because of my academic background. Basically, I was able to wrap my head around the math behind it. As deep learning became more ubiquitous in space, with the proliferation of graphics processors (GPUs) and other hardware that can speed up the training of these deep neural networks, AI patent work became an increasingly large part of my practice. Today my practice is almost 100 percent dedicated to the software and hardware aspects of AI.

CCBJ: What changes have you noticed in the industry over the years?

Portnov: In the early days, the development curve was astonishing. Every new invention seemed to be leaps and bounds ahead of the state of the art. While the development is still significant, the improvements are now smaller and more incremental. Many of the inventions that I consider do not necessarily bring about entirely new paradigms for solving problems, but rather refine or expand existing ideas.

CCBJ: What challenges do you see across the board in the industry?

Portnov: One of the big challenges for AI companies is to find commercial and industrial applications for the technologies to be developed. Researchers generally don’t think of commercial applications for the AI ​​they develop. Patent attorneys are therefore in a unique position to help clients imagine what kind of products or services these technologies could be used for in the future. Most new AI technologies are not core aspects of current products, but they will be in five to ten years, so companies need to be able to think long-term.

CCBJ: What problems do you face in pursuing patent applications for AI-based inventions?

Portnov: Like most software inventions, AI-based inventions also face problems with patent eligibility. A big part of my job is figuring out what types of AI innovations are patentable, and then shaping them to be given preferential treatment by patent offices around the world. Investigation in this area can also be unpredictable; Patent examiners come from different backgrounds and often have very different views when it comes to patent eligibility for new technologies.

As the industry becomes a more mature area, the state of the art is growing rapidly, which has advantages and disadvantages. It is now easier to see what the starting point is when writing an application, so I have a better idea of ​​what level of protection I am likely to receive. But of course, more state of the art means that there is a greater likelihood that my invention will run into trouble in front of the patent office.

CCBJ: Where do you see this industry in the next five to ten years?

Portnov: As computing power becomes more readily available and techniques evolve to make AI more suitable for commercial purposes, AI will permeate almost all industries.

Many of the products currently on the market are several years behind research, so in the future we’ll be implementing much more advanced forms of AI across a wider range of industries. I think there will also be some kind of democratization for working with AI; Products are currently being developed to help people without an AI background train and use their own models, which is likely to have a reinforcing impact on the technology.

CCBJ: What would people probably not expect from you?

Portnov: I financed my bachelor’s and law degrees with poker.

Views expressed are those of the authors as of the date noted above and do not necessarily reflect the views of Fish & Richardson PC, any other of its lawyers, clients, or any of its or their respective affiliates. This post is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice and should not be understood. There is no mandate relationship.

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