• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]
Contact form
Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

  • Deutsch

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email
MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Advice On Protective IP Rights
    • Patent Application /TM Registration
    • Enforcement Of IP Rights
    • Defence Against IP Rights Enforcement
    • Costs
  • Company
    • Fields of Law
      • Patent Law
      • Utility Model Law
      • Employees‘ Inventions
      • Trademark Law
      • Design Law
      • Trademark and Product Piracy
      • Expert Opinions
    • Our Law Firm
      • Dr. Karl-Hermann Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Tim Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Klaus Zimmermann
      • Zhichao Ying
      • Dr. Christoph Hölscher
    • Commitment
  • Contact
    • Where To Find Us
    • Write us!
    • Request call back
  • Blog

AI ‘DABUS’ autonomous inventor, but not official

17. February 2020

The inventor named in a European patent must be a natural person. In a highly regarded decision of the EPO the AI ‘DABUS’ was rejected as inventor and the corresponding patent applications  were rejected. Because an AI has no personal rights. Now the full text of the decision has been published.

AI 'DABUS'The curious case of AI ‘DABUS’ was already decided by the European Patent Office at the end of 2019, now the full text of the decision has been published. The main point is the rejection of the European patents, whose inventions were created by an artificial intelligence (AI) and whose name DABUS was registered as inventor. The EPO’s much-noticed decision rejected the AI ‘DABUS’ as inventor and the two corresponding patent applications. Because an AI has no personal rights.

Inventions were created autonomously by AI ‘DABUS’

The two patents, EP 18 275 163 and EP 182 751 74, concern a beverage container and fractal light signals respectively. Especially the fractal light signal (EP 18 275 174) is explained in detail in the corresponding patent description. The invention shows a device and method which is intended to attract optical attention like a lighthouse during search operations. An adaptive algorithmically controlled neural flame is to serve as a beacon of the signal. The two patent pending inventions were created autonomously by the AI ‘DABUS’, which led to the owner of the AI naming the AI ‘DABUS’ as the inventor.

The patent applicant and owner of the AI ‘DABUS’, Stephen Thaler (USA), has been working with AI for decades. He has been publishing papers on artificial neural networks under the name Creativity Machines® since 1997, but Thaler reported at conferences that the AI ‘DABUS’, which has been registered as an inventor, goes far beyond the usual machine-on-off patterns of neural structures. According to Thaler, cumulative cycles of learning and unlearning, which do not follow a fixed pattern, connect a part of the neural networks in DABUS to structures that produce such complex concepts as the two patent applications. The name “DABUS” of the AI stands for “Device autonomously bootstrapping uniform sensibility”.

Rule 19 EPC serves only to identify the inventor

The patent applicant Thaler explained that the inventions had been made by the AI itself. He argued that the machine should be recognized as an inventor and that he himself, as the applicant and as the owner of the machine, was an assignee of any IP rights created by the AI ‘DABUS’.

Rule 19()1 EPC does not require that the inventor is a human being, but serves only the purpose of properly identifying the inventor. The designation of the inventor filed in the present case fulfils this requirement, Stephen Thaler found. The provision that a designation must contain both a first name and a surname would deny persons with only one name (monoyme persons, e.g. Javanese names according to Wikipedia) the right to be named as inventor. Furthermore, the fact that an AI system has neither moral nor property rights is not an obstacle to being registered as an inventor, Mr. Thaler has argued.

The requirements for patentability are exclusively defined in Art 52 – 57 EPC. According to Mr. Thaler, a procedural requirement under Rule 19 EPC could therefore not introduce a substantive exclusion from patentability for inventions made by AI systems.

Names of things not to be equated with names of persons

The European Patent Office rejected this argumentation, as the full text of the decision now published shows in detail. In accordance with Rule 19(1) EPC, the designation must contain the surname, first name and full address of the inventor, the Patent Office stated. However, names given to things must not be equated with names of natural persons. Names given to natural persons enable them to exercise their rights and be part of their personality, and this also applies to monoyme persons.
In contrast, things have no rights, especially no personal rights. The EPO cited numerous national rules on rights relating to the personal name, for DE § 12 of the German Civil Code (in ger: BGB), for FR Article 57(2) of the French Civil Code and for IT Article 6(1) of the Italian Civil Code.

Designation of an inventor mandatory, as legal consequences

The designation of an inventor is also mandatory because it has a number of legal consequences, explained the EPO. In particular, naming the inventor ensures that the designated inventor is the legitimate one and that he or she can claim the rights associated with this status. However, in order to be able to exercise these rights, the inventor must have legal personality, which AI systems or AI machines do not have.

According to the interpretation of the legal framework of the European patent system, the inventor named in a European patent must therefore be a natural person, the EPO decided. This is laid down as a principle in Article 81 and Rule 19 of the European Patent Convention.

Although Stephen Thaler may have failed with the two patent applications by the inventor AI ‘DABUS’ so far, he is sure to have attracted enhanced attention on his AI ‘DABUS’ and on the patent EP 18 275 174 with the appropriate name “DEVICES AND METHODS FOR ATTRACTING ENHANCED ATTENTION”. In addition, as the applicant for the patent, he has two months to appeal against the decision before the Boards of Appeal, the independent court of law of the EPO. However, patent applications with the inventor AI ‘DABUS’ have also been rejected in the USA and UK.

Do you also need support in securing your patent rights, e.g. for AI, deep learning, software?

Our attorneys have many years of expertise in patent law as well as in the entire field of intellectual property. We are entitled to represent you before any court – in Germany and internationally.
Please contact us if you are interested.


 

Sources: 

Decision of EPO AI ‘DABUS’

Image:

geralt | pixabay | CCO License

 

  • share  61 
  • share 
  • share 
  • tweet 
  • share 

Category iconPatent Law Tag iconArtificial Intelligence,  EP Patent,  DABUS,  AI DABUS,  inventor application,  AI,  EPO,  European Patent,  Inventor,  Patent Application

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More articles about: Patent Law

All articles

Blog Menu

  • Design Law
  • Healthcare & Lifesciences
  • International Intellectual Property
  • Licenses
  • News from our law firm
  • Overall
  • Patent Law
  • Product- and Trademark piracy
  • Trademark Law

Recent Posts

  • BPatG: Patent claim of cancer drug on active substance as salt 7. March 2022
  • Grant for European IP Protection: SME Fund 2022 4. March 2022
  • CODE-X vs. Cody’s: Likelihood of confusion in drinks? 25. February 2022
  • EOS lip balm no 3D trademark – appeal before ECJ not admissible 24. February 2022

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Das könnte Sie auch interessieren:

4. March 2022
Grant for European IP Protection: SME Fund 2022

Grant for European IP Protection: SME Fund 2022

22. February 2022
PAP is in force: UPC possible in 2022

PAP is in force: UPC possible in 2022

8. February 2022
Germany: Value in dispute and costs in proceedings

Germany: Value in dispute and costs in proceedings

3. February 2022
PCT application – does the principle of joint applicants apply?

PCT application – does the principle of joint applicants apply?

1. February 2022
Proof of patent infringement by whistleblower

Proof of patent infringement by whistleblower

19. January 2022
Computer Data identification declared invalid

Computer Data identification declared invalid

Contact us or request a call back

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]
Request a call back

Footer

Contact

Torhaus Westhafen
Speicherstrasse 59
D – 60327 Frankfurt am Main
Deutschland
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 199
[email protected]

Office Hours
Moday – Friday:   08:00-18:00

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Law Firm

  • Request non-binding call back
  • Company
  • Our Law Firm
  • ISO Certificate
  • Privacy Policy
  • Data handling for clients
  • Imprint

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email

Newsletter Signup

© Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB

Contact Form

 

Give us a call, send us an email or fill out the contact form.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]

Kontaktformular

 

Rufen Sie uns an, schicken Sie uns eine Mail oder füllen Sie das Kontaktformular aus.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]