High Court Powers Down DABUS Patent Prospects In Australia

The High Court has refused an application by Dr Thaler, owner and creator of the artificial intelligence (AI) machine DABUS, for special leave to appeal a decision of the Full Federal Court to deny AI inventor status under Australian law. While Australia was the first jurisdiction worldwide in which a court held that AI can be an inventor, it is now the first jurisdiction to permanently power down the DABUS dispute, with no further avenues for appeal remaining to Dr Thaler.

The short-lived decision of the Federal Court to allow AI inventorship (discussed here) was overturned by the Full Federal Court on appeal (discussed here), on the basis that only a human can be inventor. On 11 November 2022, three judges of the High Court (Gordon, Edelman and Gleeson JJ) decided a High Court hearing was not "the appropriate vehicle to consider the questions of principle sought to be agitated by the applicant", refusing the special leave application with costs.