Artificial Inventor? - Patentability of inventions generated by artificial intelligence under European Patent Law.

Sammanfattning

We are entering an era that some describe as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, triggered by the development of artificial intelligence. Considering the impact that developments in artificial intelligence have had, and will continue to have on society, discussions have arisen on the implications for the patent system. The DABUS case highlights that the inventorship status under European patent law can only be assigned to natural persons. As a result, a natural person must be designated as the inventor for an invention to be eligible for patent protec- tion. Artificial intelligence is increasingly used within pharmaceutical drug de- velopment, and thus, queries arise as to whether the current legal framework is sufficient to handle inventions generated by artificial intelligence. This thesis aims to assess whether inventions generated by AI are patentable under European patent law. As the development of artificial intelligence is chal- lenging the traditional concepts of inventorship, this thesis uses a legal dog- matic method to examine the discussions made on the topic by the European Patent Office and national patent offices in Germany and the United Kingdom. To analyse future risks with the current legal framework, and discuss possible solutions, the objectives of patent law are analysed. These objectives are more- over applied in the context of AI generated inventions and discussed in the light of patent protection within drug development. This thesis concludes that neither the European Patent Office nor any of the member states of the European Patent Convention allow for artificial intelli- gence systems to obtain inventorship status. However, one of the objectives of patent law is to provide incentives to stimulate future innovation. If artificial in- telligence systems are completely excluded from the legislation on inventor- ship, uncertainty arises as to whether the patents for inventions generated by AI are valid. In turn, incentives to invest in innovative research risk weakening, having consequences for research sectors such as drug development. Therefore, this thesis concludes that new legislative measures are needed to protect inven- tions if a natural person cannot be designated as the inventor. The solution of extended guidelines to the European Patent Convention is presented, as well as the solution of a new legislative framework that operates alongside the already existing European Patent Convention. This would reflect the invention in a more accurate way, while still attributing the rights following the inventorship status to humans.