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Intellectual Property and Commercial Court Denied Artificial Intelligence (AI) as Inventor to File a Patent
Whether artificial intelligence (AI) can be cited as an inventor to file patent applications is an important issue of global concern. The legal systems and practical opinions of various countries are quite inconsistent. South Africa is the first country to grant AI patents and recognized the artificial intelligence robot DABUS as an inventor. The Australian Federal Court later also ruled that AI should be regarded as a patent inventor. However, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected a patent application in which DABUS was listed the inventor; such a decision was supported by the Federal District Court.
In Taiwan, the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court held in 2021 in an administrative judgment concerning a patent application that in accordance with the Patent Act and patent related regulations, the inventor of a patent must be a natural person. As DABUS is an artificial intelligence system (AI), rather than a legally natural person, and this patent application has no other inventors, this application does not meet the requirements of the patent application. Therefore, the rejection decision of Intellectual Property Office (IPO) against this patent application is not in violation of the Patent Act for the inadmissibility of this patent application. The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court confirmed the rejection decision of the IPO.