An American computer scientist on Wednesday lost his bid to register patents on inventions created by his artificial intelligence (AI) system, in a landmark case in the United Kingdom over whether AI can hold patent rights.
Stephen Thaler wanted to be granted two UK patents on inventions which he claimed were devised by his “creativity machine” called DABUS.
The British Intellectual Property Office denied registration of the patents, arguing that the inventor must be a human being or a company, and not a machine.
Thaler appealed to the UK Supreme Court, which unanimously rejected his appeal on Wednesday.
Judge David Kitchin, announcing the court’s ruling, stated that under British patent law, “an inventor must be a natural person.”
Earlier this year, Thaler lost a similar appeal in the United States, when the Supreme Court refused to entertain a challenge to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to grant patents for inventions created by its artificial intelligence system.
