The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can help America maintain its AI leadership (blog.google)

Google argues that the U.S. patent system must evolve to sustain American leadership in generative AI, noting that 17% of its recent inventions were created with AI and that the company leads in patented generative-AI innovations. The Patent and Trademark Office faces an influx of complex applications, exploding technical prior art, and resource constraints that make it hard to distinguish valid patents from ones that could create unmerited roadblocks. With John Squires assuming the USPTO directorship, Google urges targeted reforms to protect innovation incentives and prevent low‑quality patents from chilling competition. To do that, Google recommends four practical steps: (1) restructure USPTO funding so fees reflect the true cost of rigorous examination — including requiring large-scale filers to pay more upfront and ensuring fees stay with the agency; (2) expand responsible use of AI to help examiners route applications, find prior art, and flag abusive filing behavior (building on existing routing and search work done with Accenture Federal Services); (3) formally affirm that AI is a tool and that patents should be granted to human inventors; and (4) restore meaningful access to Inter Partes Review as an efficient post‑grant mechanism to weed out invalid patents. Together these changes aim to improve patent quality, speed reviews, and reduce costly litigation—keeping the patent system aligned with fast-moving AI innovation.