Denying Patents to AI ‘Stymies Innovation,’ Federal Circuit Told

The test case in the ongoing battle over whether an artificial intelligence system can be named as the inventor on a patent has reached the nation’s top patent court.

Stephen Thaler, a computer scientist from Missouri who built an AI “creativity machine” called DABUS, wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to rule that two patents listing his creation as inventor should have been granted.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the denial.

“This ignores fundamental statutory and constitutional principles and also stymies innovation,” ...