United States of America: Patent and Trademark Office released Revised Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions

On 26 November 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released the Revised Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions and rescinded the guidance issued on 13 February 2024. The previous guidance, which applied the Pannu factors to AI-assisted inventions, was withdrawn. The USPTO clarified that the Pannu factors apply only to determining whether multiple natural persons qualify as joint inventors, because artificial intelligence systems are not natural persons and cannot be joint inventors. The guidance states that the same legal standard for determining inventorship applies to all inventions. AI systems cannot be named as inventors or joint inventors. Inventorship is based on conception, which requires a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention. It also explains the fact-intensive assessment of conception, treats AI systems as instruments without inventorship status, and outlines joint inventorship principles for multiple natural persons. The guidance applies to utility, design, and plant patents. It also clarifies priority requirements, stating that the same natural person or at least one joint inventor must be named in common with a prior-filed application. A priority claim to a foreign application naming an AI system as the sole inventor will not be accepted.