AI as an Inventor: What We Can Learn from the Australian DABUS Case

Let me begin with a disclaimer. I am no expert in Australian law. However, it seems to me that the Australian Federal Court (FCA) has made a series of missteps in the DABUS case (Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2021] FCA 879) that led it to conclude that an AI-driven system can be an inventor. As similar DABUS cases are currently pending before the European Patent Office and the UK Court of Appeal and a number of companies employ AI in their inventive endeavours, I find it relevant to discuss the FCA's argumentation. DABUS is an AI-driven system which is currently on a world tour of courts and patent offices with the claim to have invented the following subject matter: food container and devices and methods for attracting enhanced attention.