Update on Artificial Intelligence: Court Rules that AI Cannot Qualify As "Inventor"

Striking a blow to patent applicants seeking to assert inventorship by artificial intelligence ("AI") systems, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled on September 3, 2021 that an AI machine cannot qualify as an "inventor" under the Patent Act. The fight is now expected to move to the Federal Circuit on appeal. Proskauer has been closely monitoring the quickly-developing legal treatment of AI systems, especially in view of their implications for life sciences patents. AI's presence in life sciences innovation is well established, for example, to predict biological targets of prospective drug molecules and to identify drug design candidates (among many other applications). As we reported in August, two countries--Australia and South Africa--have already permitted AI systems to qualify as "inventors" in patent applications. However, hope for a worldwide trend have been dashed, at least for now.