Two patent applications filed at the European Patent Office (EPO) naming an Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the sole inventor marked the start of a series of applications testing the position of patent offices worldwide on what is becoming an increasingly contentious issue: should AI be recognised for inventive activity? The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has become the latest patent office to conclude that an AI cannot be named as an inventor on a patent application under local legislation.
The decision is at odds with the current position in Australia and suggests a need to rethink our definition of “invention” and hence “inventor”. Read more