AI
AI can’t be named as an inventor, says top UK court
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating many possibilities in the tech industry but the latest decision from the Supreme Court of the UK says that AI can’t be named as an inventor.
A case filed by a person named Stephen Thaler in 2018 mentioned two patent applications including a food packaging shape patent and a flashing light patent.
However, Mr. Thaler named his AI program “DABUS” as the inventor of these two patents. He then listed his right to the patents as being “ownership of the creativity machine ‘Dabus.’”
The UK Intellectual Property Office concluded that Thaler failed to comply with patent filing requirements such as a natural owner/inventor. It also fails to explain how his ownership rights derived from the patent inventor, in this case, it is AI.
While appealing against the UK IPO, Thaler made an argument that he complied with all requirements under 1977 legislation. However, it was later denied by the UK’s High Court and Court of Appeal.
On Wednesday, the UK’s top court also said that the current patent law requires the inventor to be a “Natural Person”.
UK’s Supreme Court noted, “Dr. Thaler has made clear that he is not an inventor; that his case is that the inventions described in his applications were made by DABUS; and that his right to the grant of patents for those inventions arises from his ownership of DABUS”.
In a separate statement, Thaler’s lawyer disagrees with the judgment and comments that the UK’s patent law is “wholly unsuitable for protecting inventions generated autonomously by AI machines”.
That’s not it, Thaler has already made similar appeals in the US court but met with the same fate.