United States of America: Lawsuit on classifications of AI systems as inventors of patents under US Patent Law (Thaler v. USPTO)

Progress

Current status
in force
18 Aug 2023 in force
24 Apr 2023 in force
05 Aug 2022 in force
14 Feb 2022 in force
02 Sep 2021 under investigation
30 Mar 2020 under investigation
12 Aug 2019 under investigation

Scope

Implementers
United States of America
Policy Area
Intellectual property
Policy Instrument
Patent protection regulation
Regulated Economic Activity
ML and AI development
Government Branch
judiciary
executive
Government Body
court
supreme court
other regulatory body
Implementation Level
national

Timeline of events

18 Aug 2023
in force

Issued District Court of Columbia ruling denying copyright to AI system owner (Thaler v USPTO)

On 18 August 2023, the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued its ruling in a lawsuit on the copyright registration of art created by Artificial Intelligence. The plaintiff is the owner of an Artificial Intelligence System called "Cre…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type ruling
Government branch judiciary
Government body court
24 Apr 2023
in force

Issued Supreme Court ruling rejecting appeal petition (Thaler v USPTO)

On 24 April 2023, the US Supreme Court denied the petition filed by Stephen Thaler to hear a challenge against the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) decision refusing to issue patents for inventions created by artificial intelligence (AI). On…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type ruling
Government branch judiciary
Government body supreme court
05 Aug 2022
in force

Issued Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling rejecting AI system as inventor (Thaler v USPTO)

On 5 August 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision on Thaler v. Vidal, ruling that an AI system cannot be listed as a named inventor on a patent application. On 8 June 2020, Dr Stephen Thaler filed a claim before t…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type ruling
Government branch judiciary
Government body court
14 Feb 2022
in force

US Copyright review board rejects request of recognition of artwork authorship by artificial intelligence system

On 14 February 2022, the Review Board of the US Copyright Office rejected a request to review its denial to register a two-dimensional artwork, generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) system, called "A Recent Entrance to Paradise". The Board co…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type ruling
Government branch executive
Government body other regulatory body
02 Sep 2021
under investigation

Issued District Court of Virginia ruling rejecting AI system as inventor (Thaler v USPTO)

On 2 September 2021, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in favour of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Thaler v. Hirshfeld, stating that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be listed as an invento…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type interim ruling
Government branch judiciary
Government body court
30 Mar 2020
under investigation

US Copyright Office rejects reconsideration request of copyright for artificial intelligence system

On 30 March 2020, the US Copyright Office rejected for the second time a copyright claim for a work generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) system. The AI-generated work, submitted by Dr. Thaler, had previously been denied registration by the U…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type interim ruling
Government branch executive
Government body other regulatory body
12 Aug 2019
under investigation

US Copyright Office rejects first application of copyright request for artificial intelligence system

On 12 August 2019, a copyright claim for a work generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) system was denied registration by the US Copyright Office with the reason of a "lack of human authorship necessary to support a copyright claim". The artwor…

Source
Event type public lawsuit
Action type interim ruling
Government branch executive
Government body other regulatory body