Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions

• Authority: Department of Commerce
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. regulations, executive orders, and agency policies
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2024-02-13

Risk subdomain coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Governance failure

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal coverage of AI risk domains, focusing primarily on legal and procedural requirements for patent inventorship rather than AI risks and harms. The only substantive risk coverage relates to governance failure (6.5) regarding the adequacy of patent law frameworks for AI-assisted inventions. Other risk domains are not addressed.

Sector coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Professional & Technical Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document does not govern specific economic sectors. Rather, it establishes cross-sectoral patent inventorship requirements applicable to AI-assisted inventions across all industries. The guidance applies to any natural person or entity seeking patent protection for AI-assisted inventions, regardless of their industry sector.

Legislative Status

Soft Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is USPTO guidance that interprets existing patent statutes but explicitly states it does not constitute substantive rulemaking and does not have the force and effect of law. It sets agency policy for examination procedures using predominantly mandatory language for USPTO personnel but creates no enforceable rights for external parties.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); Department of Commerce
• Summary: The USPTO issued this guidance document to clarify inventorship requirements for AI-assisted inventions. The document header identifies it as issued by the Department of Commerce, and throughout the text the USPTO is identified as the authoring agency.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Entities: patent applicants; inventors; joint inventors; patent practitioners; assignees; parties associated with patent applications
• Summary: The guidance applies to natural persons who create AI-assisted inventions and seek patent protection, as well as patent practitioners who prepare and prosecute applications. It governs how inventors using AI systems must be named on patent applications.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: USPTO; patent examiners; Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); United States District Courts; United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Summary: USPTO examiners enforce the guidance through examination procedures and rejections. The PTAB and federal courts provide appellate review of inventorship determinations and enforce underlying patent statutes.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: USPTO examiners; Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
• Summary: USPTO examiners monitor compliance through the examination process, evaluating inventorship on a claim-by-claim basis. The PTAB provides oversight through appeals of examiner decisions.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document addresses multiple AI lifecycle stages with primary focus on the Build and Use Model stage (where AI systems are used to assist in creating inventions) and the Plan and Design stage (where humans contribute to conception). It also covers verification aspects related to determining proper inventorship.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Systems

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions AI systems throughout but does not define specific categories of AI such as frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or generative AI. It treats 'AI systems' broadly as tools used in invention creation. No compute thresholds or distinctions between open-weight and closed models are mentioned.