Update on Federal Register Notice on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patent Issues JD Supra

In the decision, the UKIPO Hearing Officer, Huw Jones, citing sections 7 and 13 of the Act (The Patents Act 1977) and Rule 10 of the Rules (The Patents Rules 2007), Officer Jones said "the Office accepts that DABUS created the inventions" in the patent applications but that as it was a machine and not a natural person, it could not be regarded as an inventor. Moreover, as DABUS has no rights to the inventions, the Officer stated it is unclear how the applicant derived the rights to the inventions from DABUS: "There appears to be no law that allows for the transfer of ownership of the invention from the inventor to the owner in this case, as the inventor itself cannot hold property." Id. at p. 6. Officer Jones further noted that while he agreed inventors other than natural persons were not contemplated when the EPC was drafted, "it is settled law that an inventor cannot be a corporate body." Accordingly, since the "applicant acknowledges DABUS is an AI machine and not a human, so cannot be taken to be a'person' as required by the Act." However, the Hearing Officer also added that the case raised an important question: given that an AI machine cannot hold property rights, in what way can it be encouraged to disseminate information about an invention?