Comic books have been keeping us entertained for centuries. From Popeye to Superman, these stories reflect the society we live in. However, if we have a closer look at some of their magic powers, we may see some recognisable substances. Could Popeye’s spinach be a substitute for cannabis? Or Superman’s kryptonite, a subtle reference to methamphetamines?
As I recently (tentatively) predicted, on Friday 30 July 2021 Justice Beach in the Federal Court of Australia handed down a judgment giving Australia the dubious honour of becoming the first country in the world to legally recognise a non-human as a valid inventor on a patent application: Thaler v Commissioner of Patents[2021] FCA 879. I would suggest that the remarkable speed with which this unnecessarily lengthy (228 paragraphs) decision was rendered, after being heard on 2 July 2021, may reflect the judge’s enthusiasm for issuing such a ground-breaking ruling. Unfortunately, I do not share that enthusiasm, and I am confident that there are many others who are equally uncomfortable with the outcome. My hope is that this includes officials within IP Australia and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, and that the decision will be duly appealed to a Full Bench of the court. It is, in my view, deeply regrettable that the Commissioner of Patents did not put on a stronger defence in the first instance because, even though an appeal was probably inevitable either way, the worldwide publicity that this decision is now generating is not necessarily beneficial for Australia.
The judge summarised his reasoning (at [10]) that:
…in my view an artificial intelligence system can be an inventor for the purposes of the Act. First, an inventor is an agent noun; an agent can be a person or thing that invents. Second, so to hold reflects the reality in terms of many otherwise patentable inventions where it cannot sensibly be said that a human is the inventor. Third, nothing in the Act dictates the contrary conclusion.
The patent system faces many challenges, but right now a need to grant more patents in a wider range of circumstances in not one of them. We are in the grip of a global pandemic, and very serious questions are being asked about whether patents deliver a net benefit to the people of the world by incentivising the development of new vaccines and treatments, or whether they have the detrimental effect of denying affordable access to vital care and protection in poor and developing nations. While I am firmly in the former camp, it only becomes harder to defend the patent system when opponents see the law expanding access to allow inventions generated by machines – potentially including those owned and controlled by giant corporations.
So what does Australia gain by being the first – and possibly only – country in the world to legally recognise non-human inventors? Nothing, as far as I can see, other than a whole lot of unneeded publicity and global scrutiny of our patent laws. If we are lucky, we will not receive many serious patent applications for inventions generated by machine inventors, and little practical harm will be done. At worst, however, we could become the only country in the world to grant patents on such inventions, mostly filed by foreign applicants, creating exclusive rights that are enforceable only in Australia to the relative detriment of Australian innovators and consumers.
Chrissy is a peppy rabbit Villager in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with an incredibly unique look to match her massively positive personality. She’s spotty...
Old school media stalwart The New York Times launched its augmented reality news content in 2018 with a feature on the athletes of the Winter Olympics. However, after a solid year of AR reporting, the Times all but abandoned its AR news coverage via its mobile app, instead opting to publish AR content via the Spark AR platform from Facebook. Don't Miss: Google Adds More Olympic Athletes to Its Roster of Augmented Reality Search Content Now, the publication's AR journey has come full-circle with a pair of AR camera effects visualizing the physics behind two of the sports of the Summer Games... more
After a postponement of the Summer Olympics for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo is set to host the games this summer, despite a surge in cases in the city. Nonetheless, the games seem set to go on, and USA Today has published two AR experiences highlighting two new sports, skateboarding and sports climbing, making their Olympics debut. Don't Miss: USA Today Teams Up with 8th Wall to Launch AR Basketball Game for March Madness The AR experiences feature American professional skateboarder Tom Schaar and Team USA climber Kyra Condie, with a 3D scan of each athlete anchored in the... more
Decentralized finance is playing an increasingly important role in the crypto world. It is all the less surprising that DeFi projects are gaining ever greater popularity. One of these projects is called the DeFi Coins Protocol. After the successful listing on the Exchange Pancakeswap, another important milestone has now been reached for the native token DeFi Coin (DEFC). The listing on the BitMart Exchange will follow from July 18th. DeFi Coin (DEFC) – listed on BitMart from July 18th DeFi Coin (DEFC) has already passed an important milestone. After the listing on the exchanges Vindax.com and Pancakeswap, the next important
There is an increasing realisation that a successful economy is also a smart economy, and a smart economy is strengthened by having companies and organisations innovating and commercialising their inventions.
Luckily Australia is full of companies and organisations doing exactly this. But who are these companies, and in what areas are they innovating in?
To answer this question with the most recent yet reliable data, I have looked at patent global publication data for Australian companies filed in the 12 months prior to 31 March 2021. I have chosen this period as it is the latest quarter for which reliable data is available. By coincidence this is also the 12 month period after COVID-19 made its impact known, but maybe it is too soon to fully understand the effect of COVID in this area.
On April 21, 2021, the European Commission released a highly-anticipated proposal for a regulation governing artificial intelligence (AI). The proposal has been drafted by the...
Vigilant Aerospace Systems announced today the appointment of Zach Peterson as its new Business Development Manager. Peterson will be leading sales and marketing for the company as well as contributing to product management and strategic growth opportunities. Peterson brings an extensive background in sales and marketing, aviation product management, domestic and international customer service and […]
Vigilant Aerospace Systems has participated as a co-author on a research paper from Oklahoma State University’s Unmanned Systems Research Institute (USRI) titled “Testing and Evaluation of UTM Systems in a BVLOS Environment.” The paper has been accepted for publication by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and will be presented at the upcoming […]