Anthropic and OpenAI sued in Delaware over five neural-network patents
Flinn Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies says Claude and ChatGPT infringe machine-learning patents that inventors Steven Flinn and Naomi Moneypenny filed in 2015 and 2016, and seeks unspecified damages, Reuters reported.
Why it matters
Patent suits against the big model makers have been rare; most litigation so far has targeted copyrighted training data. Flinn's complaints instead claim that the reasoning, search, memory, coding, agentic and multimodal capabilities of Claude and ChatGPT rest on machine-learning inventions patented in 2015 and 2016. Anthropic already faces a separate neural-network patent suit filed in July by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation. Neither company had commented when Reuters reported the filings. Watch for motions to dismiss and whether other patent holders follow.
Key facts
- Plaintiff: Flinn Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies LLC
- Five neural-network patents asserted
- Inventors Steven Flinn and Naomi Moneypenny filed them in 2015 and 2016
- Filed in US District Court for the District of Delaware
- Case numbers 1:26-cv-01454 (Anthropic) and 1:26-cv-01455 (OpenAI)
- Damages sought; amount not specified