NEWS
St. Patrick’s Day video
We’ve put together a fun video about St. Patrick’s Day. It explains who St. Patrick was, how his birthday came to be a celebration of Irish culture, and some related patents.
Ignorance Of The Law May Be An Excuse In Copyright Registration
On February 24th, 2022, the Supreme Court has published a decision, Unicolors v H&M, that will make challenging the validity of a copyright registration much harder.
Under the US Copyright Act, registration of a copyright is necessary to bring infringement suits. Therefore, alleged infringers often try to prove that the copyright registration is invalid, and that therefore the owner cannot bring the suit. That strategy was used by H&M when Unicolors sued for infringement of several clothing patterns, and won at trial. H&M appealed, asserting that Unicolors’ registration was invalid due to an error in the application of the law.
The ultimate question in Unicolors focused on whether, in a copyright registration, both an error of fact, such as in the description of the work, and an error of law, such as in the appropriate method of publication, can be excused. According to the Copyright Act, if copyright holders make a mistake in registering the copyright, the registration remains valid as long as they had no knowledge of the mistake. Since the principle that “ignorance of the law is no excuse” does not apply in civil cases, and the Act does not distinguish between a mistake of a fact and a mistake of law, SCOTUS held that both errors are excused if there is no actual knowledge.
While the decision ultimately imposes a higher burden on alleged infringers, it was positively welcomed by copyright associations and rightsholders (see Copyright Alliance, Supreme Court (Finally) Renders a Copyright Decision That’s Not for the Birds). Copyrights holders should be aware, however, that consciously closing one’s eyes (i.e. willful blindness) will not save them from invalidation, as it may be interpreted as having knowledge of the error.
Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility Program
The USPTO is implementing a pilot program called the Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility response.
The point of the program is to defer the whole question of subject matter eligibility until a later stage of patent prosecution. Deferring subject matter eligibility allows examiners to first check to see if the invention clears the other hurdles, of §§ 112, 102, and 103. If it is struck down in one of those categories, then no time is wasted arguing over the more difficult question of the eligibility.
For more information, check out the USPTO page: https://www.uspto.gov/patents/initiatives/patent-application-initiatives/deferred-subject-matter-eligibility-response
European Unified Patents Update
We posted an update on this back in November 2021, but all 13 countries have now ratified the Protocol on Provisional Application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The European Union is now in the process of putting the court together and it may be ready within the year.
The proposals include both a Unitary Patent covering participating member states, as well as a Unified Patent Court with jurisdiction over the litigation aspects. There is also a provision to opt out of this. In practice, there may be a cost savings only in the event the patent would be sought in four or more countries. So if, for example, you were only seeking patent protection in one country, it would be cheaper to prosecute in that country alone, rather than the unified patent.
But this could be a great option for those seeking protection across Europe when the details are all worked out.
It should also be noted that Unified Patent challenges will eventually be heard only in the Unified Patent Court, but there will be a temporary hybrid situation allowing litigation through national courts.
More information is available through the European Patent Offices page.
Venner-Shipley, one of our UK associates has provided an in-depth analysis found here.
Valentine’s Day Video
We’ve put together a little video about Valentine’s Day.
First, we give the historical background about who Saint Valentine was, and how he came to be celebrated. Then the transformation from a feast day to a commercial holiday for lovers. Finally, we give you some Valentines-related patents, and then wish a happy valentines to all of our inventors trying to make the world a better place. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Supreme Court: Less focus on patent matters post-Alice
Alice v CLS (2014) was a landmark case for patent eligibility. The decision held that Alice’s patents were invalid because the claims were drawn to an abstract idea and implementing them on a computer wasn’t enough to transform the abstract idea into patentable subject matter.
The Supreme Court saw numerous patent related cases in the wake of Alice, but since then there has been much less focus on patent matters. 2014 saw 6 patent related matters appear, Alice being the first. The subsequent years saw:
2015 3 cases
2016 2 cases
2017 0 cases
2018 3 cases
2019 3 cases
2020 1 case
2021 2 cases
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_patent_case_law
Artificial Intelligence as Inventor
DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience)
An AI machine program called DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) was created as a series of neural networks trained with general information. One of the support team, Dr. Stephen Thaler, claims DABUS was not made to solve a specific problem in a particular technology area, and was never trained with specific technical data relevant to the invention. However, DABUS, without human assistance, created a novel solution to a problem that has been the subject of patent applications in Europe, the UK, and the US, and in South Africa.
Human Inventor Requirement
Most patent offices have a requirement that inventors be individual human persons. The US, the UK and Europe all rejected Thaler’s patent application on behalf of DABUS for that reason. South Africa has granted the patent application, but their procedures don’t require a substantive search and examination of patent applications. If the paperwork is in order and the requirements are met, the patent will be granted.
There are various traditional reasons for requiring individual humans as inventors, going back to Benjamin Franklin and the idea that the act of invention was a mental activity that could only originate from humans. The language of the Patent Act seems to require a natural person due to terms such as “whoever”, “himself/herself”, and “individual” in referencing the inventor. There are also actions described that can only be performed by a human being, such as directing an inventor to execute an oath or declaration.
There is a further consideration based on the legal tests for ‘conception’. According to the USPTO, these tests consider conception in the human mind, meaning only natural persons can be considered inventors.
The Challenge of AI
These traditional arguments, however, are running up against the evolving nature of general artificial intelligence. Narrow artificial intelligence environments have been used to identify compounds for use in some drugs. Human input, however, set up the parameters and human input was required to test the compounds. Such discoveries really don’t meet the kind of inventive conception patent offices are referring to. But in the case of general AI, the environment itself was created by humans, but not to solve specific problems. In this case, the AI generated an invention- came up with a solution to an existing problem- without specific prompting. As Dr, Thaler argues, while he can claim inventor status for the AI, he had no conceptual inventive step in the particular invention, therefore it wouldn’t be just to list him as the inventor.
Counter arguments for these might be a less textual, broader interpretation of the language, the fact that AI was inconceivable when the original tests were outlined, and that inventor identity requirements have more to do with dispute resolution than determining the source of innovation.
Should We Expand Inventorship?
Why should the system be opened up to include AI environments as inventors?
One argument, by Ryan Abbot, is that patent protection for AI generated works will incentivize innovation. No one is suggesting that patent protection would motivate an AI. Expanding inventorship would motivate those who develop inventive AI to continue doing so, which, in the end, would benefit society.
The patent system is designed to protect inventors, while disclosing information that would be of value to society. Failing to allow AI generated inventions would discourage businesses from using it, even if it proves more effective than people in solving certain problems.
There is also an interesting twist to allowing AI to be listed as the inventor. It may protect the rights of human inventors. Listing the owner of the AI as the inventor for an AI generated invention isn’t unfair to the AI. It can’t have any concern about such a matter. But it does allow people to take credit for work they didn’t do. This may ultimately devalue human inventorship, by putting the work of someone who asks an AI to solve a problem on the same level as someone legitimately inventing something new.
AI systems would still not own patents since they lack the legal and moral rights to own property. But listing an AI as the inventor isn’t about providing rights to machines. It’s about protecting the rights of human inventors and the integrity of the patent system.