Canadian Patent Appeal Board Says AI Cannot Be An Inventor

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The Patent Appeal Board in Canada issued a landmark decision, holding that an AI system is not a valid "inventor" under Canadian patent law. In the result, the patent filed by computer scientist Stephen Thaler and invented by his AI system named "DABUS", was rejected for failing to meet the requirements to name a proper inventor and for lack of entitlement to file a patent given the lack of any assignment from a valid inventor. The PAB decision is not binding law but will likely be followed by patent examiners in Canada.

On June 5, 2025, the Patent Appeal Board (PAB) at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) decided against computer scientist Stephen Thaler in his long-running campaign to secure patent rights for inventions generated by his AI system. This marked the latest worldwide chapter, and the first decision in Canada, to determine whether artificial intelligence can be named as an inventor on a patent application. According to the