Can AI Systems Be Inventors?

Can an artificial intelligence (AI) system be recognised as an inventor under Indian patent law?

The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks has now provided a clear answer: No.

For several years, the question of AI inventorship has been debated across jurisdictions. The Indian Patent Office (IPO) has now joined leading patent offices worldwide in holding that an AI system cannot be named as an inventor under the Patents Act, 1970.

In Patent Application No. 202017019068, the IPO rejected an application filed by Dr. Stephen Thaler, who sought to identify DABUS as the ‘true and first inventor’ of a redesigned food container.

Why This Decision Is Significant

The Controller rejected the application on several legal and technical grounds.

• Inventors Must Be Natural Persons: Sections 6, 7, and 10 of the Patents Act contemplate inventors as natural persons capable of holding and transferring legal rights.

• Ownership of an AI System Does Not Establish Inventorship: Ownership of DABUS does not satisfy the statutory requirements for inventorship.

• AI Systems Have No Legal Personhood: AI systems cannot execute statutory declarations, claim nationality, assign legal rights, or perform statutory acts required under the patent law framework.

• The Application Also Failed on Technical Merits: The claimed food container lacked an inventive step under Section 2(1)(ja). Accordingly, the application would have been refused even if a human inventor had been identified.

What This Means for R&D in India

The decision aligns India’s patent jurisprudence with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Patent Office.

AI-assisted inventions, software innovations, and machine learning-based technologies remain patentable, provided they satisfy the statutory requirements and identify the human inventor(s) who made the inventive contribution.

Legal Update: Dr. Stephen Thaler has challenged the Patent Office’s decision before the Delhi High Court. The appeal is presently pending.