The United Kingdom Supreme Court has upheld the decisions of lower courts by rejecting a request to recognize an artificial intelligence system as the inventor in a patent application. This case involved technologist Dr. Stephen Thaler, who aimed to have his AI system, Dabus, acknowledged as the inventor of a food container and a flashing light beacon.
In 2019, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the UK denied this application, stating that only a human being could be designated as an inventor for patent purposes. This decision was subsequently supported by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Central to this legal stance is the argument upheld by the IPO and the courts that patent rights can only be granted to “persons” and not to artificial intelligence systems. The Supreme Court, with a panel of five judges, has now dismissed Dr. Thaler’s appeal, conclusively stating that “an inventor must be a person” and that AI systems cannot secure patent rights as inventors.InformationGuideNigeria
It’s important to note that the Supreme Court’s judgement did not address whether Dabus actually created the food container and light beacon inventions. Dr. Thaler, who views Dabus as a “conscious and sentient form of machine intelligence,” expressed concerns to the BBC in March about the potential negative implications if AI-generated inventions are not eligible for patent protection.JAMB Result
He fears that without such protection, valuable innovations could be lost, and dishonest or even criminal activities might be encouraged.
The IPO has expressed its satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s judgement, appreciating the clarity it provides on the matter.
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But it added that “the government will nevertheless keep this area of law under review to ensure that the UK patent system supports AI innovation and the use of AI in the UK”.NYSC Portal
Rajvinder Jagdev, of specialist intellectual property litigation firm Powell Gilbert, said: “The judgement does not preclude a person using an AI to devise an invention – in such a scenario, it would be possible to apply for a patent, provided that person is identified as the inventor. The judgement alludes that had this been the scenario it had been asked to consider, the outcome may have been different.”
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