EPO: an A.I. system cannot be designated as “inventor”

The European Patent Office (EPO) has recently refused two patent applications in which an Artificial Intelligence system was designated as the “inventor”.

The EPO is expected to publish its reasoned decision within January 2020. Based on the information available, the Office acknowledged that the inventions at issue had been actually “created” by the A.I. system. Nonetheless, the EPO ruled out the possibility of indicating said system as the inventor, based on the provisions of the European Patent Convention (namely, Article 18 and Rule 19), which were interpreted as setting forth a principle according to which the “inventor” can only be a human being.