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European Patent Office refuses to recognise AI system as inventor

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Published on: 28 January 2020

Published by LNB News

LNB News 28/01/2020

Document Information

Issue Date: 28 January 2020

Published Date: 28 January 2020

Jurisdiction(s): England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and European Union

Article summary

The European Patent Office (EPO) has explained why it has refused patent applications EP 18 275 163 and EP 18 275 174, filed in autumn 2018, seeking to designate an AI system as the inventor. The regulator has stated that an inventor must be a human being and cannot be a machine. The machine consists of ‘a type of connectionist artificial intelligence’ called ‘DABUS’. The EPO has added that since the term inventor, as referring to a natural person, is a policy that is applied internationally, this decision mirrors those of several other national courts.

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