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AI-Generated Inventions: Implications for the Patent System

Author

Listed:
  • Gaetan de Rassenfosse

    (Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne)

  • Adam Jaffe

    (Brandeis University)

  • Melissa Wasserman

    (The University of Texas at Austin - School of Law)

Abstract

This symposium Article discusses issues raised for patent processes and policy created by inventions generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The Article begins by examining the normative desirability of allowing patents on AI-generated inventions. While it is unclear whether patent protection is needed to incentivize the creation of AI-generated inventions, a stronger case can be made that AI-generated inventions should be patent eligible to encourage the commercialization and technology transfer of AI-generated inventions. Next, the Article examines how the emergence of AI inventions will alter patentability standards, and whether a differentiated patent system that treats AI-generated inventions differently from hu-man-generated inventions is normatively desirable. This Article concludes by considering the larger implications of allowing patents on AI-generated inventions, including changes to the patent examination process, a possible increase in the concentration of patent ownership and patent thickets, and potentially unlimited inventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaetan de Rassenfosse & Adam Jaffe & Melissa Wasserman, 2023. "AI-Generated Inventions: Implications for the Patent System," Working Papers 22, Chair of Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:iip:wpaper:22
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    generative AI; patent; intellectual property; invention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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