Supreme Court Will Not Review United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s Decision in Thaler v. Vidal
Summary
On April 24, 2023, the United States Supreme Court denied review of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision in Thaler v. Vidal, which held that an “inventor” under the United States Patent Act must be a human being, and that an artificial intelligence (“AI”) system could not be named as an inventor on a patent application. Computer scientist and AI researcher Stephen Thaler petitioned the Supreme Court in March for review of the Federal Circuit’s decision, arguing that the Patent Act simply defines an inventor as one who invents, and therefore patent protection should extend to inventions made by an AI system. The Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari confirms that the Federal Circuit’s decision requiring inventors to be human will remain the current law in the United States.
