March 29, 2024

USA: There are no patents on AI inventions

04/26/2023 – In the USA, the lawsuit filed by computer scientist Stephen Thaler against a decision of the US Patent and Trademark Office was dismissed: according to this, patents can only be granted to people, and not to artificial intelligence.

The US Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by computer scientist Steven Thaler over patent rights to artificial intelligence inventions, the news agency reports. Reuters
. Thaler took legal action against the US Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to grant him patents for inventions created by his AI system. The judges rejected Thaler’s appeal against a lower court’s decision that patents can only be granted to human inventors and that his AI system cannot legally be considered innovative for two inventions Thaler says he created.

Thaler Foundations Imagination Engines Inc
An artificial neural network technology company based in Saint Charles, Missouri, USA. According to Thaler, his DABUS system, which stands for Device for Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience, developed unique prototypes of the cup holder and emergency light completely independently.

The US Patent and Trademark Office and a Virginia federal judge denied his patent applications for the inventions on the grounds that DABUS was not a person. The US Patent Court for the Federal Circuit upheld those decisions last year, saying US patent law clearly requires inventors to be human.

Thaler explained before the Supreme Court that artificial intelligence is being used for innovation in many fields and that the rejection of patents resulting from artificial intelligence “restricts the ability of our patent system—and frustrates the intent of Congress—to optimally stimulate innovation and technological progress”.

Thaler has also applied for DABUS patents in other countries, including the UK, South Africa, Australia and Saudi Arabia – with limited success. The UK’s Supreme Court heard Thaler’s appeal against his defeat in that case in March. Thaler also challenged the US Copyright Office’s decision to deny copyright protection to artwork created by his AI.

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