Computers Should Not be Granted Patents

In order to receive a patent, the subject of the protection must be a human invention. Some want to change that and allow computers programmed to "artificial intelligence" sophistication to receive patents. New research published by the University of Surrey in Boston College Law Review is calling for inventions by computers to be legally granted patents. The research states that the rapid increase in computer power is posing new challenges when it comes to patenting an invention. Artificial intelligence is playing an ever larger role in innovation -- with major players such as IBM, Pfizer and Google investing heavily in creative computing -- but current patent law does not recognise computers as inventors.