The case stems from two patent applications filed by Stephen Thaler in 2018, one for a shape of food packaging and the other for a type of flashlight. Instead of listing himself as the inventor, Thaler listed his AI tool, called DABUS, in the applications. He also listed his personal rights to the patents as “owner of the DABUS creative tool.”

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The British Supreme Court ruled that an inventor must be a human being. (Photo: PhonlamaiPhoto)

Initially, the UK Intellectual Property Office responded that Thaler did not comply with patent regulations, which require the inventor to be a human and the ownership to come from that human (in this case, an AI).

Thaler appealed the decision, claiming that he met all the requirements of the 1977 patent regulations, but was rejected. He then appealed to the UK High Court and Court of Appeal, but both were rejected, denying AI was the inventor.

In its ruling this week, the UK Supreme Court said it was not deciding whether technical advances made by AI tools and machines should be copyrighted, or whether the meaning of the word “inventor” should be broadened.

However, under current copyright law, the term “inventor” must be a “natural person.”

The Supreme Court noted that Mr. Thaler had made it clear that he was not the inventor; the inventions described in the filing were created by DABUS; and ownership of the copyrights to those inventions derived from Thaler's ownership of DABUS.

In a statement to Reuters, Thaler's lawyer said the ruling showed that current British copyright law is completely inadequate to protect inventions created automatically by AI machines.

Thaler also appealed in the US courts, and was also dismissed because the patent must be invented by a human. According to copyright lawyer Tim Harris of the law firm Osborne Clarke, if Thaler had listed himself as the inventor in his filing and used DABUS as a sophisticated tool, the outcome of the proceedings could have been different.

(According to CNBC)

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