Did you know that in 2021: • A patent application named an Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the inventor and in at least 1 country- it is listed as an inventor; • AI is being used by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) to aid in the patent search process; and • a case involving a monkey that took a selfie may guide us in statutory construction? It's a brave new world and Darin Klemchuk is here to walk us through it. Darin is the managing partner and founder of the law firm, Klemchuk, LLP. He has handled more than 500 intellectual property disputes, including over 40 patent infringement cases and hundreds of IP enforcement actions. Darin represents Fortune 500 corporations, growing companies that benefit from broad intellectual property counseling, and startup companies with disruptive technologies. Additionally at the end of the podcast at the 36:04 mark, the ILS gives a tribute to one of our own, Tom Wilson.

A second burst of interest in AI authorship broke out in the mid-1980s. Congress once again commissioned a study, this time from its Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), to address this and other controversial computer-related issues. OTA did not offer an answer to the question, perhaps in part because at that time, it was a "toy problem" because no commercially significant outputs of AI or other software programs had yet been generated.5 But deep learning and other AI breakthroughs have caused IP professionals to rethink the AI authorship issue.1,2 For example, The Next Rembrandt video features a group of art experts and computer scientists discussing how they collaborated to digitize many Rembrandt paintings, develop models of particular features of the paintings, and then create a Rembrandt-like portrait of a man with facial hair wearing a hat and looking to the right.6 The resulting AI-generated painting really does look like a Rembrandt.

This is an actual rule. In 2011, British photographer David Slater was photographing a troop of macaques when Naruto, a six-year-old, smiled into Slater's lens, pressed the shutter button, and captured this toothy selfie: The lawsuit seeks to establish that Naruto should own his selfie, just as any human being owns a selfie they take. After going viral and popping social media metrics rivaling Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar-selfie, the photo was posted on Wikipedia. Slater fired off a cease-and-desist letter, but Wikipedia refused to take down the photo because a monkey, not a human, created it. PETA jumped into the fray and sued Slater to establish Naruto's ownership of his selfie.

This is an actual rule. In 2011, British photographer David Slater was photographing a troop of macaques when Naruto, a six-year-old, smiled into Slater's lens, pressed the shutter button, and captured this toothy selfie: After going viral and popping social media metrics rivaling Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar-selfie, the photo was posted on Wikipedia. Slater fired off a cease-and-desist letter, but Wikipedia refused to take down the photo because a monkey, not a human, created it. PETA jumped into the fray and sued Slater to establish Naruto's ownership of his selfie. A recent settlement – in which Slater will donate a portion of future royalties to conservation charities – mooted the Ninth Circuit appeal.