AI systems can’t patent inventions, US federal circuit court confirms

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The US federal circuit court has ruled that AI systems can’t hold patents. It’s the latest confirmation of this reading of the US Patent Act in a series of legal battles led by computer scientist Stephen Thaler.

The law is clear, says the court: only people can hold patents

Writing in the court’s opinion, judge Leonard P. Stark notes that, at first glance, one might think that resolving this case would require “an abstract inquiry into the nature of invention or the rights, if any, of AI systems.” However, says Stark, such “metaphysical matters” can be avoided by simply analyzing the language of the relevant statue: the Patent Act.

The Patent Act clearly states that only human beings can hold patents, says Stark. The Act refers to patent-holders as “individuals,” a term which the Supreme Court has ruled “ordinarily means a human being, a person” ; and uses personal pronouns — “herself” and “himself” — throughout, rather than terms such as “itself,” which Stark says “would permit non-human inventors” in a reading.

“Statutes are often open to multiple reasonable readings. Not so here,” writes Stark. “This is a case in which the question of statutory interpretation begins and ends with the plain meaning of the text ... [T]here is no ambiguity: the Patent Act requires that inventors must be natural persons; that is, human beings. “

The ruling confirms the status quo for AI patent law in the US, and shores up what is slowly consolidating as international legal opinion. Both the

 

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In the Matrix the machines rose up in part because humans refused to recognise equal rights. JustSaying

This is a good thing. It ensures the patent system can't be abused by those with access to the AI tech.

What if the human doesn't tell anyone that the AI invented something and they patented it for themselves?

That’s ok for now but once AI becomes sentient then this needs to be changed. I believe that if an AI is sentient it should have the same rights as humans.

I call this robot oppression!

Not giving them rights always comes back 2 bite us in the ass.

they will remember such inequality

What does that mean in English ? 🤔

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