Webdesk: A computer scientist who has campaigned worldwide for patents on discoveries conceived by his artificial intelligence system asked the US Supreme Court to consider his case on Friday.
Stephen Thaler asked the high court to examine an appeals court’s ruling. Ruling was that only humans can receive patents. It added that his AI system cannot be the legal author of its ideas.
Thaler wrote in his brief that rejecting AI-generated patents “curtails our patent system’s ability and thwarts Congress’s intent — to optimally stimulate innovation and technological progress.” in industries like medicine and energy.
Thaler claims that his DABUS technology, short for Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience, created innovative prototypes for a beverage holder and light beacon.
The USPTO and a Virginia federal court denied patent applications for the ideas because DABUS is not a person. This year, the Federal Circuit upheld those rulings. Declared US patent law explicitly requires inventors to be humans.
Thaler advised the top court that the legislation should not require a human inventor.
“Nowhere in the text of the Patent Act has Congress restricted the term ‘inventor’ — or the word ‘individual’ within its definition. It was to solely to natural persons,” Thaler’s appeal stated.
The petition stated that legislation like the Patent Act “employ broad language that is meant to accommodate technological change.”
Moreover, Thaler contested the US Copyright Office’s denial of AI-generated art copyright protection. The office also denied copyrights for February Midjourney photos.
While, Thaler has filed DABUS patents in the UK, South Africa, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. The UK Supreme Court heard his case this month.
