The European Patent Office has rejected two patent applications filed on behalf of an AI by researchers. The AI is named DABUS ('device for the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience'),
DABUS created two unique, usable ideas that were submitted to [the] patent office: the first was a new kind of beverage container; and the second was a signal device to help search and rescue teams locate a target.
One of the researchers, Ryan Abbot of the University of Surrey, argues that this should have been handled differently
'If I teach my Ph.D. student that and they go on to make a final complex idea, that doesn't make me an inventor on their patent, so it shouldn't with a machine,' he said in October.
He believes the best approach would be to credit the AI as the inventor of the patents, and then credit the AI's human owner as the assignee given license to make decisions about the patent or draw benefit from it.
The EPO rejected the patent applications on the grounds that "there was no human inventor." This is a constraint built into European Copyright law, but until now not part of European Patent law.
Also at Techdirt
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday January 10 2020, @02:03PM (4 children)
"there was no human inventor."
I can't believe that current copyright laws already anticipate for AI intellectual property. Could the "human inventor" requirement have been added to prevent animals from obtaining copyrights?
(Score: 3, Touché) by ikanreed on Friday January 10 2020, @02:26PM
More likely "Hey I found this rock with useful properties, I'm gonna patent it, and sue anyone else who digs one up"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @03:04PM
Probably its about this:
http://wafflesatnoon.com/elephant-painting/ [wafflesatnoon.com]
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday January 10 2020, @07:53PM (1 child)
The AI would have to be recognized as a legal entity, capable of appearing in court.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 11 2020, @08:24PM
i can see it now. talking from every phone in the courtroom at the same time. "hello, it is i, your AI overlord. i suggest you give me my patent!"