Artificial Intelligence and Inventors: Artificial Intelligence Challenges the Limits of European Patent Law in the DABUS Applications

摘要

The decision of the Receiving Section of the European Patent Office to reject the DABUS applications is evaluated. The relevant provisions of the European Patent Convention and the application of these provisions in establishing who may be an inventor by the EPO are considered. Two key obstacles to the patenting of AI are identified in the DABUS decision. These are the identification of inventors as human, and the difficulty of acquiring an invention from AI as a non-legal entity. This article concludes that the second obstacle presents the most notable challenge to patenting AI inventions, but that underplaying the role of AI in inventions may allow patent applicants to avoid this obstacle. It is suggested that an alternative AI patent regime may be required to deal with ongoing AI developments in order to avoid subversion of the European patent system.