European patent – artificial intelligence and designation of the inventor

According to article 81 of the European Patent Convention, “the application for a European patent must include the designation of the inventor“.
It is on this delicate issue of the “inventor” as a subject of right that the Legal Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office, the first and last jurisdictional instance before the European Patent Office (EPO), took a decision during a public oral procedure on December 21, 2021.

Indeed, the inventor named in two European patent applications (EP 18 275 163 and EP 18 275 174) was not a human being (legally a natural person), but an artificial intelligence system.

The Boards of Appeal, in dismissing the appeals filed by the applicants, confirmed the decisions of the European Patent Office’s Filing Section, namely that an artificial intelligence (AI) system cannot be designated as an inventor.

For more information : https://www.epo.org/news-events/news/2021/20211221.html