February 2026 Big news for UK patent eligibility: the Supreme Court has redrawn the approach to excluded subject matter. The effects will reach far beyond AI cases.
To be patentable in the UK, an invention must meet a patent eligibility requirement. Some inventions — including business methods and computer programs “as such” — are ineligible even if the invention is otherwise novel and inventive.
For many years, UK eligibility has been assessed using the four-step Aerotel/Macrossan test. Over this period, the European Patent Office (EPO) developed a different analytical approach for assessing excluded subject matter. The two approaches have not always produced consistent outcomes, leading in some cases to divergence between UKIPO and EPO decisions, and uncertainty around the UK validity of some European patents.
Today, the Supreme Court handed down a significant decision in the appeal by Emotional Perception AI Limited, concerning whether an artificial neural network (ANN)-based system for generating file recommendations (including music recommendations) meets the patent-eligible requirement.
In its judgment, the Court abandoned the Aerotel/Macrossan test and endorsed closer alignment with the EPO’s eligibility approach, referring in particular to the Enlarged Board of Appeal’s reasoning in G 1/19. This represents a major shift in how UK patent eligibility — especially for AI and software-implemented inventions — is likely to be assessed going forward.
This seems to be good news for applicants for UK patents, and the implications go well beyond AI inventions. We will be updating our advice to clients with AI and computer-implemented inventions in light of this decision.
The full decision can be found here.
