Since the last edition of this book, a new actor has entered the patent litigation scene: artificial intelligence (AI).

AI-based algorithms are now used by non-practising entities and other patent holders to find interferences with the patents that they want to enforce.

The same or other algorithms are used by defendants in patent litigation suits to find prior art references that may destroy the validity of the patent being enforced. In the last months, a start-up created an algorithm that passed the Turing test in patent research: it was impossible to distinguish this algorithm from a patent attorney carrying out the same search.

We may expect that, very soon, the same AI research tools will be adopted by national and supranational patent offices to find relevant prior art, so that the standard for patentability will become gradually higher (which is actually good news).

Finally, the use of robots and AI is rapidly growing in many national courts. China is an impressive example, so much so that 2017 was dubbed in China the "First Year of Technological Justice".

In short, we are moving from old fashioned patent litigation to augmented patent litigation. And it is not surprising that technology-related litigation is one of the starting points for technology-based justice.

However, failure to quickly get to grips with this innovation could be very dangerous for patent litigators. AI tools are so powerful that having them will provide huge advantages, while continuing to make searches the old way will be like fighting with knives against machine guns.

May 2018.