AI Inventorship

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From The IP Kat:

The UKIPO (United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office) updated its Formalities Manual on the 28th of October 2019,adding under 3.05  a provision  that “An AI Inventor is not acceptable as this does not identify “a person” which is required by law. The consequence  for  failing to supply this information is that the application is taken to be withdrawn under s. 13(2)”.

Although one could question how important and breathtaking this amendment is,  still,  it signals the intention of the UKIPO and the way that it perceives AIat this point  of time. It is difficult to be sure  what has triggered this new provision,, but it could  be related to the patent applications submitted in the UKIPO, UPSTO and EPO, respectively,  concerning (i) a new form of beverage container based on fractal geometry and (ii) a device for attracting enhanced attention valuable for search and rescue operations. What these patent applications have in common is the inventor, an AI called Dabus.

Naturally, humans are involved in these patent applications, namely in the form of the  applicants, two professors from Surrey University. The question is, of course, why the applications name the AI program as the inventor,  if not to provoke a reaction from major patent offices.

. . . .

Professor Ryan Abott, also a professor at Surrey University, is the head of the application’s project. One of his statements available on the website of Surrey University states,

 “Powerful AI systems could hold the key to some of the mega challenges facing humanity – from the cure for cancer to workable solutions for reversing climate change. But if outdated IP laws around the world don’t respond quickly to the rise of the inventive machine, the lack of incentive for AI developers could stand in the way of a new era of spectacular human endeavor.”

In fact, the patent applications are part of a project, the Artificial Inventor project.

Link to the rest at The IP Kat

PG suggests the OP depicts intellectual publicity-seeking.