AI as Patent Inventor Ruling Overturned by Australian Court

An Australian appeals court ruled that only a person can be an inventor on a patent application, setting aside a judge’s ruling and realigning Australia with the U.S. and other major intellectual property areas.

Stephen Thaler, a computer scientist, built an AI “creativity machine,” which he says invented a food container and a light beacon. Australia’s IP office appealed a judge’s decision overturning its rejection of an application naming the machine as an inventor.

“Only a natural person can be an inventor for the purposes of the Patents Act and Regulations,” a panel for the Federal Court of Australia wrote ...