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ARTICLE · 16 MAY 2022

Can an AI system be an inventor? Full Court says no.

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Recent FC decision confirms that an AI system cannot be an Inventor. A number of other policy issues were also identified.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
David Fixler
David Fixler
Grant Fisher
Grant Fisher
Eugenia Kolivos
Eugenia Kolivos
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In a decision that brings Australia into line with recent decisions in the US, Europe and the UK, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has unanimously found that an artificial intelligence (AI) system cannot be an 'inventor', while also identifying a number of policy issues to be addressed.

The Full Court overturned Justice Beach's decision, in which his Honour found that an AI system could be an inventor for the purposes of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) (Act) and Patent Regulations 1991 (Cth) (Regulations).1 Instead, the Full Court held an 'inventor' must be a 'natural person' - based on the historical centrality of the role of a human inventor in patent applications, the scheme of the Act and Regulations, and the natural reading of section 15(1) of the Act.2

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