United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Holds That an Artificial Intelligence System Cannot Be an Inventor on a Patent Application

Dr. Stephen Thaler developed DABUS (Device for Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Science), an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can autonomously create patentable inventions. Thaler has filed patent applications in various jurisdictions for two inventions created by DABUS – a food container with side walls having a fractal profile, and a beacon for attracting enhanced attention for example in a search and rescue scenario[1]. In each application, Thaler listed DABUS as the sole inventor, forcing patent offices in various jurisdictions to address the issue of whether an AI system can be an inventor on a patent application. Thus far, the DABUS patent applications have found very limited success in patent offices and courts around the world. In the latest decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) held that the US Patent Act requires an inventor to be a natural person, and consequently, an AI system cannot be an inventor on a United States patent application.[2] The DABUS applications were initially rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).