Breakfast Webinar: Should AI Systems Be Classifiable as Patent Inventors?

Can an Artificial Intelligent (AI) system be the inventor of a patent? Australia’s Federal Court in Thaler v Commissioner of Patents recently ruled yes – and that’s attracting worldwide attention, since it’s the first time that conclusion has been reached in any jurisdiction. In this joint IPRIA/IP Australia breakfast webinar, the internationally esteemed panel will discuss the implications of such a decision.

Tune in on Wednesday, 15 September 2021 at 08.00 AM AEST to hear Joshua Gans, Kimberlee Weatherall and Jeannie Paterson debate whether AI systems should be able to be classified as inventors.

Joshua Gans is a Professor of Strategic Management and holder of the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (with a cross appointment in the Department of Economics). Joshua is also Chief Economist of the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab.

Kimberlee Weatherall is a Professor of Law at the University of Sydney, and a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. She specialises in issues at the intersection of law and technology, as well as intellectual property law.

Jeannie Marie Paterson is a Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne. She specialises in the contract, consumer protection and consumer credit law, including the role of emerging digital technologies in these fields. Jeannie is the co-director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne and co-leader of the Digital Ethics research stream at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.