Patent Office Hosts 'International Conference' on Protecting AI Inventors

On the 8th, Kim Yong-rae, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, delivered a welcome speech to the heads of patent offices from various countries participating in the online conference. Photo by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Major patent offices around the world are coming together to protect technologies invented by artificial intelligence.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 9th that it recently held an international conference at its international conference room on the theme of "Can artificial intelligence be an inventor?" with seven advanced intellectual property offices.

The conference was hosted by KIPO and participated in by the patent offices of the United States, China, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, conducted online (via video conference).

The event was organized as a time for advanced patent offices to exchange opinions with the core topic of "AI inventors."

Recently, as big data has been accumulated and hardware performance has advanced, cases where artificial intelligence replaces humans in various fields are increasing. For example, a full-length novel created by AI has been published domestically, and overseas, companies based on AI have been established to develop new drugs.

This trend is also appearing in the patent field. However, unlike the fact that technologies claimed to be invented by AI have been applied for patents in 16 countries worldwide, each country has issued different judgments regarding the recognition scope of AI inventors, increasing confusion.

For instance, most countries including Korea and the United States limit inventors to "humans" and have rejected patent applications, whereas some countries such as Australia and South Africa have recognized AI as an inventor (since July 2021).

The conference focused on these controversies, serving as a time for the seven advanced intellectual property offices to share information on whether AI can be recognized as an inventor and on current issues being discussed in each country.

Separately, since October, KIPO has been conducting advisory and policy research services with legal and technical experts on major international discussion trends regarding AI inventors and the necessity of protecting technologies invented by AI.

Kim Yong-rae, Commissioner of KIPO, evaluated, "The conference provided an opportunity to establish various issues regarding AI inventors," and said, "Through the conference, KIPO hopes to form an international consensus and achieve institutional harmony to prepare for the AI era from the perspective of intellectual property policy."