For years, the debate surrounding artificial intelligence and patents has focused on a relatively simple question: Can AI be an inventor?
At least in the United States, the answer is currently no. Inventors must be natural persons.
Problem solved. Or perhaps not.
While lawyers, courts, and the USPTO have spent the past several years debating
In 2022, the Federal Circuit definitively ruled that artificial intelligence (AI) systems cannot be named inventors or co-inventors on patent applications, reinforcing the longstanding principle that only natural persons are eligible as inventors under the Patent Act. This decision, however, left an important question unanswered: Are inventions created with AI assistance patentable?
Today, the United
The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear a case brought by a computer scientist whose “invention” was in fact created by artificial intelligence. Stephen Thaler was appealing a Federal Circuit decision that interpreted the Patent Act to require a human “inventor” for purposes of obtaining a patent. The invention at issue was conceived of by