With the emergence of digital technologies also inventions made by generative AI came into the focus of researchers and academics alike. Nevertheless, there were for a long time no judgements by courts regarding how to deal with inventions made by generative AI. This was when Dr. Malte Köllner decided to find an inventor who created a machine, which was capable to generate inventions, and to file a patent application, so that after the expected refusal they could appeal the decision and receive a judgement. He finally met Dr. Stephen Thaler who created DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) and started with him his project regarding inventions made by generative AI.

Dr. Malte Köllner, from Köllner & Partner mbB, Patent Attorneys, is a German and European Patent Attorney as well as Trademark and Design Attorney. In 2022 he was named Germany’s Attorney of the Year by the German business newspaper “Handelsblatt”. Most recently, he co-initiated the worldwide DABUS project, clarifying the patentability of inventions generated by artificial intelligence.

Here are some questions that were discussed in the Live Talk:

1 . Why was it important to get judgements by courts regarding generative AI like DABUS?
2 . What are the practical hurdles regarding the handling of patents and patent applications for inventions made by generative AI?
3 . Who are the inventor and owner for inventions made by means of generative AI?
4 . What does “inventive step” mean in this context?
5 . What inventor remuneration is payable in such cases and what is the role of transparency in the company regarding how and where the invention was made?

Here is the recorded video from the CEIPI IP Business Talk with Dr. Malte Köllner, from Köllner & Partner mbB, Patent Attorneys, about inventions made by generative AI from 25.10.2023 in full length viewable: