Japan’s Supreme Court Rules AI Cannot Be Named as Patent Inventor

Event Core

The Supreme Court of Japan has issued a final ruling confirming that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be designated as an inventor on patent applications, reinforcing the legal requirement that inventors must be natural persons.

Bagua Insight

• ▶ The Anthropocentric Legal Barrier: While Generative AI is rapidly becoming the engine of R&D, global judicial systems are holding firm to an anthropocentric framework to prevent the dilution of legal personhood and the potential chaos in intellectual property ownership.
• ▶ Global Harmonization: By aligning with the U.S. and European stances, Japan has effectively solidified a global consensus: AI remains a sophisticated tool in the eyes of the law, not an autonomous agent capable of legal authorship.

Actionable Advice

• ▶ Refine R&D Attribution: Companies must ensure that any AI-assisted output is documented with clear human contributions to meet patentability requirements, mitigating the risk of rejection due to non-human inventor claims.
• ▶ Pivot IP Strategy: Since AI cannot hold title, firms should pivot toward treating AI-driven workflows as trade secrets and focus on protecting the human-led design process rather than banking on AI as a standalone inventor.