Should computers be considered inventors under US Patent Law?

Here is an interesting law review article: Ryan Abbott. I Think, Therefore I Invent: Creative Computers and the Future of Patent Law. Boston College Law Review, 57 B.C.L. Rev. 1079 (2016)
which contains within the abstract-->


this Article argues that creative computers should be considered inventors under the Patent and Copyright Clause of the Constitution. Treating nonhumans as inventors would incentivize the creation of intellectual property by encouraging the development of creative computers. This Article also addresses a host of challenges that would result from computer inventorship, including the ownership of computer-based inventions, the displacement of human inventors, and the need for consumer protection policies. This analysis applies broadly to nonhuman creators of intellectual property, and explains why the Copyright Office came to the wrong conclusion with its Human Authorship Requirement. Finally, this Article addresses how computer inventorship provides insight into other areas of patent law. For instance, computers could replace the hypothetical skilled person that courts use to judge inventiveness. Creative computers may require a rethinking of the baseline standard for inventiveness, and potentially of the entire patent system.




link: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol57/iss4/2/