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The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit by computer scientist Stephen Thaler, who challenged the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s decision not to issue patents for inventions created by his artificial intelligence (AI) system.
Thaler’s AI system, called DABUS, generated unique prototypes for a beverage holder and emergency light beacon. Despite the alleged uniqueness of inventions created by machine learning systems, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a federal judge in Virginia rejected his patent applications.
The reason for the rejection was stated as the fact that patents can only be issued to human inventors.
Thaler’s appeal to the Supreme Court argued that denying AI-generated patents limits innovation and technological progress, but the court declined to hear the case.
“[Decision] curtails our patent system’s ability – and thwarts Congress’s intent – to optimally stimulate innovation and technological progress,” commented Thaler.
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig and other academics who support Thaler’s case at the Supreme Court have filed a brief arguing that the Federal Circuit’s decision could put billions of dollars in investments at risk, threaten U.S. competitiveness, and contradict the plain language of the Patent Act.
In the past, thaler has also applied for patents for his DABUS system in other countries. The list of countries with pending patent applications includes the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. But the inventor’s success has been limited, until now.
In March, the UK’s Supreme Court considered Thaler’s appeal of his loss in this country. Additionally, Thaler is challenging the U.S. Copyright Office’s decision to deny copyright protection for art generated by his AI-based system.
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