European Union: European Patent Office publishes conclusions on rejection of patent applications naming an AI system as inventor

On 27 December 2020, the European Patent Office (EPO) issued its conclusion explaining why it refused two European patent applications in which an AI system was named as the inventor. Previously, the EPO refused the applications EP 18 275 163 and EP 18 275 174 aiming to establish an AI system as inventor, on the grounds that they did not meet the legal requirement of the European Patent Convention (EPC) that an inventor designated in the application must be a human being. The EPO explained in its judgments that the interpretation of the European patent system's legislative foundation led to the conclusion that the inventor identified in a European patent must be a natural person. The Office further stated that the interpretation of the term "inventor" as a natural person appears to be universally applicable, as evidenced by the fact that numerous national courts made similar rulings in this regard.