WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard a challenge to computer scientist Stephen Thaler’s challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to issue a patent for an invention created by his artificial intelligence system. refused.
The judge dismissed Thaler’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling that patents can only be issued to human inventors.
Thaler founded Imagination Engines Inc, an advanced artificial neural network technology company based in St. Charles, Missouri. According to Thaler, his DABUS system (which stands for Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) created a unique prototype of the beverage holder and emergency light beacon entirely single-handedly.
The US Patent and Trademark Office and a federal judge in Virginia have dismissed DABUS’s patent application for his invention on the grounds that he is not human. The patent-focused Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld those decisions last year, saying U.S. patent law clearly requires that inventors be human.
Thaler told the Supreme Court that AI is being used to innovate in fields ranging from medicine to energy, and that dismissing AI-generated patents would be “a way for us to best stimulate innovation and technological progress.” It undermines the patent system’s capacity and thwarts Congress’ intentions.”
To Thaler’s supporters in his Supreme Court case, the Federal Circuit’s decision “puts billions of dollars at risk in current and future investments, threatens U.S. competitiveness, and outperforms the odds.” In the plain language of patent law. ”
Thaler also applied for DABUS patents in other countries such as the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Saudi Arabia, with limited success. Britain’s Supreme Court heard Thaler’s appeal against his losses there in March.
Thaler also challenges the US Copyright Office’s decision to deny copyright protection to his AI-created art.
Reported by Blake Britten of Washington.Edited by Will Dunham
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