Allowing an AI as an inventor could benefit the country's pharma and drug discovery industries, say Richard Hamer, Lauren John and Alexandra Moloney of Allens.
In a world first judicial decision, Justice Beach of the Federal Court of Australia determined that an AI machine can be named as an inventor on a patent application. The decision, Thaler v Commissioner of Patents, is the first judicial determination in the world permitting a non-person to be named as an inventor. A non-human inventor can still not be an applicant of grantee of a patent-only a natural person or corporation can apply for or be granted a patent. Continue Reading