Tuesday, December 21, 2021 J 8/20 & J 9/20 - Inventor has to be a person with legal capacity

In the oral proceedings before the Legal Board of Appeal in the two DABUS cases earlier today, the Board decided that the appeal is dismissed and that the request for a referral to the Enlarged Board is refused.

The Board concludes that DABUS, an AI machine, cannot be considered an inventor in the meaning of the EPC, as the Board concluded that an inventor has to be a person with legal capacity.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020 EPO rejects an artificial intelligence as inventor

We normally discuss decisions of the Boards of Appeal on this blog, but every once in a while a first instance decision is worth discussing, as it is today.
On 20 December 2019, the EPO published a news message on the EPO website indicating that:
"The EPO has refused two European patent applications in which a machine was designated as inventor. Both patent applications indicate “DABUS” as inventor, which is described as “a type of connectionist artificial intelligence”. The applicant stated that they acquired the right to the European patent from the inventor by being its successor in title.
After hearing the arguments of the applicant in non-public oral proceedings on 25 November the EPO refused EP 18 275 163 and EP 18 275 174 on the grounds that they do not meet the requirement of the EPC that an inventor designated in the application has to be a human being, not a machine. A reasoned decision may be expected in January 2020."
The decision is now available including the full reasoning from the Receiving Section. An appeal may be expected in due course.