“We applied for a patent because we believe we have made significant innovations in the field of facial recognition, especially regarding accuracy and the use of our large-scale database of publicly available facial images,” Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That said to BuzzFeed News in response to a list of questions. “Clearview AI is currently only used by law enforcement for after-the-crime investigations.”Ton-That also said the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP helped prepare the patent.
The application also says that a version of Clearview could pull up profile information associated with a face match. This information could include things like date and place of birth, nationality, educational history, phone numbers, email addresses, hobbies, and personal interests. The application states that Clearview could also link to a match’s other social media accounts, like their “professional profile” on a site such as LinkedIn, or an “employer website.” Facebook and LinkedIn have previously sent Clearview cease-and-desist letters for violating their respective rules around the scraping and use of images, but neither company is known to have taken any legal action against the New York City–based startup.
Even if Clearview had said that its tool is meant for law enforcement, it wouldn’t matter to the US patent office. Stein said the intended field of use is “totally irrelevant to the patent system.” “You're staking out more territory by saying less,” Stein said. In other words, Clearview could be attempting to defend against as many patent lawsuits as possible by describing itself in an extremely general way.