The United Kingdom’s highest court has upheld the rejection of an appeal by computer scientist Dr. Stephen Thaler, who sought to have his AI creation, DABUS, recognized as the inventor of two patented products. The court, in a unanimous decision on December 20, affirmed earlier rulings by the U.K. Court of Appeal and U.K. High Court, stating that a “natural person” must be attributed as the inventor.
The court clarified that DABUS, being an artificial intelligence system, does not qualify as a person, leading to the dismissal of Thaler’s appeal. Thaler had filed patent applications in October 2018 for a food container and a flashing light beacon, but the U.K. Intellectual Property Office rejected them in August 2019. Thaler subsequently pursued legal action to challenge the decision.
One key contention was Thaler’s refusal to list himself as the inventor, asserting that he only created DABUS, which then independently invented the products. However, the lower U.K. courts cited the Patent Act 1977 to reject Thaler’s claim, emphasizing that only a person can hold patent rights.
The Court of Appeals, in September 2021, stated, “A machine cannot have rights. A patent is a statutory right and can only be granted to a person.” Despite the successive dismissals, the U.K. Supreme Court clarified that its recent decision does not establish a precedent for future cases and does not introduce new grounds for refusing patent applications or additional requirements for patentability.
It is noteworthy that Thaler faced similar rejections in attempts to patent DABUS in the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The only exception was South Africa, where DABUS received approval in July 2021.
