Court decision · 20 December 2023
Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks
[2023] UKSC 49 · UK Supreme Court
What it means for your code
Record meaningful human contribution for AI-assisted inventions and works if you intend to protect them.
What happened
Dr Thaler applied for patents naming his AI system DABUS as the inventor.
What was decided
Under the Patents Act 1977 an inventor must be a natural person; an AI system cannot be named as inventor.
The legal test applied
- An inventor under the Patents Act 1977 must be a natural person
What would have changed the outcome
- AI-assisted inventions where a human made the inventive contribution
Read the decision at the source
Summary and analysis by Lawpatch, checked by an editor against the source. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.