09/09/2020
The UK Intellectual Property Office published, on 7 September 2020, a call for views on the future of Artificial Intelligence and the UK IP framework here.
Interested parties, for example, those innovating using Artificial Intelligence, are invited to submit their views, by email, by the deadline of 11:45pm on 30 November 2020.
The views submitted may influence future UK IPO policy on how Artificial Intelligence is handled by the UK IPO. It is therefore important that interested parties submit their views.
Sixteen questions have been raised as part of the consultation, and they may be found here.
Some of the more contentious questions which will need to be answered are:
- Should patent law allow AI to be identified as the sole or joint inventor? Recent decisions, reported here, by the UK IPO and European patent office have refused patent applications where AI was listed as the sole inventor.
- If AI was named as sole or joint inventor of a patented invention, who or what should be entitled to own the patent?
- Who is liable when AI infringes a patent, particularly when this action could not have been predicted by a human?
- Could there be problems proving patent infringement by AI?
Given the UK IP framework was established to encourage innovation by human inventors and that we have seen a marked increase in the use of AI in many sectors, it will be interesting to see the number and range of views submitted.
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
