AI for patent attorneys: what LEO does for novelty, opposition and FTO

For a patent attorney, AI is most useful as a first reader: putting documents side by side, comparing features and preparing a draft with the source location attached. The attorney still decides. That is also what the EPO has written into its Guidelines since April 2026: parties are responsible for the content, even when a document was prepared with an AI tool.

In short

LEO has six workflows for patent work: novelty search, opposition analysis, FTO with a claim chart, response to an Article 94(3) communication, check of the text intended for grant under Rule 71(3), and translation of claims.
With the patent law practice area, LEO works with EPO patent data, the EPC with its Implementing Regulations, the Guidelines for Examination, the Case Law book and the decisions of the Boards of Appeal, taken from the EPO's official publications.
Every workflow stops at a fixed point for your decision: approve, adjust or abort.
LEO is built for work on published material. It does not draft your patent application.

Where does AI help in patent practice?

Most of the work in a patent firm is reading and comparing. Setting a 94(3) communication against the claims and the D documents. Building an opposition along the grounds of Article 100 EPC. Answering an FTO question for a product that launches in three months. These are tasks with many sources and a hard deadline.

That is where an AI colleague doing the groundwork fits: finding the relevant passages, setting up a feature matrix and showing where each statement comes from. Your colleague still reads along. The four-eyes principle does not change, but the first pair of eyes starts with a better stack.

What do the EPO Guidelines say about AI?

The April 2026 Guidelines for Examination add a new point on the use of AI to the General Part. The core: parties are responsible for the content of their applications and submissions and for complying with the EPC, regardless of whether a document was prepared with the help of an AI tool. The EPO uses AI itself too, for example to help prepare the minutes of oral proceedings held by videoconference.

For a firm, this means an AI tool may help, but you must be able to check every statement. A tool that gives no source location only pushes that work back to you.

Which workflows does LEO offer for patent work?

Workflow	What LEO does	What you decide
Novelty search	searches prior art in patents and scientific literature and maps the hits against the features of the claim	which documents are relevant
Opposition analysis	builds lines of attack or defence along the opposition grounds, with a feature matrix against the D documents	which line you take
FTO with claim chart	sets the claims of a patent against the features of a product, with the legal status per country from the patent family	whether there is a risk and what you advise
Response to a 94(3) communication	organises the objections of the examining division and prepares a draft response	the arguments and any amendments
Check of the text for grant (R. 71(3))	checks the text intended for grant and lists the points that need attention	whether you approve or propose amendments
Translation of claims	translates the claims with a side-by-side terminology check	the final translation

You find the workflows in the LEO workflow catalogue. With patent law set as your practice area, they appear at the top under Recommended.

How it works at Prudai

Every workflow starts with an intake card that you confirm yourself. LEO can pre-fill it from the conversation, but it never picks your documents and never starts a run on its own. Several specialists (AI roles, each with its own task) then work out the plan.

At a fixed point the run stops for your decision. You approve, adjust (with an explanation) or abort. LEO records that decision with who, when and in which round before the run continues. When a workflow is waiting for you, you get a notification.

Besides the workflows, LEO has eight skills for patent work that you can also use in the chat. Examples: a basic check against Articles 123(2) and 84 EPC, keeping reference signs consistent, the problem-solution approach and an FTO claim chart.

For the specialist: which sources does LEO use?

With the patent law practice area, LEO works with:

EPO patent data: claims, description, patent family with legal status per country, and the European Patent Register;
the European Patent Convention with its Implementing Regulations;
the Guidelines for Examination and the Case Law book, from the EPO's official publications;
the decisions of the Boards of Appeal since 1979, from the EPO's official data set;
the PCT texts and WIPO's Applicant's Guide;
scientific literature as non-patent prior art.

Decisions of the Unified Patent Court are not included; the UPC Agreement and its Statute are. In a workflow run, LEO gets the EPO sources through the template, even if your profile has a different practice area.

What does LEO deliberately not do?

LEO does not draft a patent application from an invention disclosure. Unpublished inventions are a firm's most sensitive information, and they call for their own confidentiality arrangement. The workflows are built for published material: an application that is already public, a granted patent, a communication in pending proceedings.

LEO does not monitor deadlines either. Your firm has an IP management system for that.

Frequently asked questions

May I use AI for documents filed with the EPO?

Yes. The April 2026 Guidelines do not prohibit it, but they place responsibility for the content with the party and the representative. So check every statement. That is why LEO gives the source location for each one.

Does LEO work with official EPO data?

Yes. LEO retrieves patent data live from the EPO and works with the EPC, the Guidelines, the Case Law book and the Boards of Appeal decisions from the EPO's official publications and data set.

Does LEO draft my patent application?

No. LEO can help with a claim tree or a basic check against Article 123(2) EPC, but we do not offer drafting an application from an invention disclosure. The workflows are meant for published material.

Who decides in a workflow?

You do. Every workflow stops at a fixed point for your decision: approve, adjust or abort. LEO does not start on its own either; you confirm the intake card.

Where is my data stored?

Your documents and files are stored on Prudai's own servers in EU data centres. For AI processing we use Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure; under contract they do not use your prompts and outputs to train models. Prudai is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and NEN 7510-1:2024.

Sources

EPO, Guidelines for Examination, April 2026 edition, General Part, point 5 "The use of artificial intelligence"
EPO, list of modifications to the 2026 Guidelines
EPO, European Patent Convention, Article 94 and Rule 71
EPO, Article 100 EPC (grounds for opposition) and Article 123 EPC
EPO, Case Law of the Boards of Appeal
EPO, Open Patent Services

Want to know how LEO works on a published patent of your choice? See AI for patent attorneys or the workflows novelty search, FTO with claim chart and response to an EPO communication.

Updated on 16 October 2026