European Union: European Patent Office rejects two patent applications designating AI system as inventor

On 20 December 2019, the European Patent Office (EPO) rejected two European patent applications (EP 18 275 163 and EP 18 275 174) in which a machine was named as the inventor. Specifically, the "connectionist artificial intelligence system" DABUS was listed as inventor on both patent applications. The EPO denied the applications on the grounds that they do not fulfill the criterion that the inventor in the application must be a human being, not a computer, after hearing the applicant's arguments in non-public oral hearings on 25 November 2019.