The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office within the Department of Commerce has issued revised guidance on determining the patentability of an invention created with the help of artificial intelligence systems.
In a Federal Register notice published on Friday, the USPTO stated that it is rescinding the February 2024 inventorship guidance for AI-assisted inventions.
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What Standards Govern Joint Inventorship in AI-Assisted Innovation?
According to the latest guidance, the Pannu factors do not apply when “only one natural person is involved in developing an invention with AI assistance because AI systems are not persons and therefore cannot be ‘joint inventors’ so there is no joint inventorship question to analyze.”
Pannu factors help determine whether an individual has made a meaningful and inventive contribution sufficient to be named a co-inventor.
The guidance considers AI systems as “analogous to laboratory equipment, computer software, research databases, or any other tool that assists in the inventive process.”
Although they may generate ideas and offer services, AI systems remain tools used by the human inventor, according to the guidance.
When several individuals contribute to an invention that was developed with the help of AI, the standard rules for determining joint inventorship still apply. According to the guidance, this includes assessing each person’s contribution to the claimed invention using the Pannu factors.
USPTO noted that in addition to utility patents, the guidance also applies to design and plant patents as well as patent applications.
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