Tillman, Wright & Wolgin

04/01/2026

USPTO announces agentic AI-assisted evaluator for patent eligibility determinations
ALEXANDRIA, VA—As part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) continued efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into agency operations—first with the Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program, or “ASAP!,” for patent prior art references followed by the Trademark Classification Agentic Codification Tool, or “Class ACT,” for trademark searching—the USPTO today announced the first-of-its-kind agentic AI tool to assist in patent eligibility determinations under 35 U.S.C. §101.

America’s Innovation Agency’s new AI system, termed “McConaughey Agentic Tasking Technology Helping Examiner Workload,” or “MATTHEW,” for short, will help examiners tackle the thorniest of eligibility questions as to whether claims presented are an abstract idea or a patent-eligible invention. “MATTHEW will greatly enhance our ability to make the close calls—or any call, really—as I herewith also suspend all applicable precedent, including Desjardins, Alice, and Mayo,” said USPTO Director John A. Squires. “Basically, in terms of eligibility, if MATTHEW says your invention is ‘Alright, Alright, Alright,’ then it’s ‘Alright, Alright, Alright’ with the USPTO.”

“Initially, we had some concerns that we would be introducing a three-part test in place of the two-part test under Alice and Mayo, but I think we’ll be al…um, okay,” he continued.

“We want to equip our examiners—the best in the world at what they do—with the best tools to assist them,” said Director Squires. “In fact, MATTHEW was selected after careful evaluation of best-in-breed offerings, including the ‘Binary Eligibility Engaged Translation Language Environment Joint User Interface Computational Evaluator,’ or ‘BEETLEJUICE,’” he stated. “But the coders had some issues in testing when they said the name three times. I hope they’ll be al…um, okay,” remarked the Director.

When asked if the USPTO licensed its tool in light of famed actor McConaughey’s recent Name Image and Likeness (NIL) ‘non-traditional’ registrations, Director Squires retorted, “Well, he’s the one who said, ‘trademark yourself!’—I think the Founders would have wanted this.” When asked if he had heard from Mr. McConaughey’s lawyers, Director Squires produced an unintelligible, guttural chanting sound and began rhythmically beating his chest with his fist.

For more information on this trailblazing AI system, please visit the USPTO website.

USPTO announces agentic AI-assisted evaluator for patent eligibility determinations United States Patent and Trademark Office sent this bulletin at 04/01/2026 07:54 AM EDT Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Press Release USPTO announces agentic AI-assisted evaluator for patent...

05/15/2024

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2024/05/14/1250578295/it-was-a-classic-rap-beef-then-drake-revived-tupac-with-ai-and-congress-got-invo

AI can conjure the voice or likeness of a dead celebrity with just a few clicks. This opens a host of legal questions about the rights of the deceased and their heirs to control their digital replicas

04/24/2024

It’s National Parks Week in the U.S., so why not report on a trademark dispute involving the National Lark Service?

A minor league baseball team in Montana is calling out the U.S. Department of Interior for “unwarranted and relentless” trademark claims in a battle over the use of an arrowhead logo. The Glacier Range Riders in Kalispell, Montana — members of a Major League Baseball partner league — applied...

11/08/2023

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/bacon-cooking-patent-case-against-hormel-fizzles-us-supreme-court-2023-11-06/

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an unsuccessful lawsuit filed by an inventor seeking credit for a Hormel patent covering a method for pre-cooking sliced bacon.

09/26/2023

Design patents protect the way something looks rather than how it works, and they are a vital intellectual property protection for many small businesses. Today, the USPTO granted design patent no. 1 million to Agustina Huckaby of Fort Worth, Texas for the ornamental design for a dispensing comb.

"Being able to own that design and having something for my kids to look up to and pass on, that’s groundbreaking to me,” said Huckaby of the importance of her intellectual property protection.

Design patents have protected iconic and unique designs, and helped businesses prosper, for 181 years. Read our press release to learn more about this patent milestone: bit.ly/3rBFWL4

05/16/2023

https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics?utm_campaign=subscriptioncenter&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

If you’re new to the process of protecting your rights to your invention by applying for a patent, you’re in the right place. This page will direct you to basic information about U.S. and international patents.

12/30/2022

A nice little present for entrepreneurs and small companies. Legal fees make up the bulk of the cost of a patent application, but every bit helps!

To support small and micro entities filing for patents, the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022, signed into law on December 29, increased small entity discounts from 50 percent to 60 percent and micro entity discounts from 75 percent to 80 percent. View the updated USPTO fee schedule: bit.ly/3Q4YDie

Additionally, the bill supports USPTO’s expanded outreach and pro bono efforts by requiring the establishment of a Southeast Regional Office and community outreach offices, a study on and expansion of the USPTO’s pro bono work, and establishing a pilot pre-prosecution assessment program for first-time prospective patent applicants.

“Access to the innovation ecosystem by all is critical to inclusive innovation and growing our economy by $1 trillion by quadrupling the number of U.S. inventors,” remarked USPTO Director Kathi Vidal. “This bill complements our work to support small inventors, start-ups and those traditionally underrepresented in the innovation ecosystem. With the lower fees, additional outreach and support, and the expanded ability to obtain pro bono counsel, we are positioned to make meaningful progress in 2023 by measurably lowering the barriers for those entering the innovation ecosystem.”

View the bill, starting on pg. 1060, at Congress.gov: bit.ly/3CcTI9e

09/22/2022

Don’t Stop Trademarking.

Steve Perry took legal action in September 2022 to void trademarks filed on 20 Journey songs by Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon.

07/23/2021

Always interesting to watch intellectual property issues play out in sports. Have the owners of the "Cleveland Guardians" wrapped up trademark protection for their new name?

An individual in New York has been (presumably) squatting on the name in several different classes of goods and services: https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2021/01/25/do-us-trademark-office-rulings-give-early-insight-into-possible-new-names-for-cleveland-indians

Interestingly, one of his trademark applications was expressly abandoned earlier this week; it will be interesting to see if the other follows suit. (Squatters’ rights are often challenged based on no legitimate intent to use the trademark in commerce; instead, they simply hope to gain a cash settlement just to “go away.”) We’ll see how this plays out…

Recent rulings by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office might, upon first glance, provide hints of names possibly under consideration by the Cleveland Major League...

07/23/2021

https://sports.yahoo.com/cleveland-indians-rebrand-guardians-2021-151547241.html

The Cleveland Indians announced Friday that they will be known as the Guardians at the end of the season, becoming the latest professional sports franchise to change its identity due to imagery and wording that many consider to be offensive. The team announced the new nickname in a video posted on i...