“INVENTORSHIP AND OWNERSHIP CHALLENGES IN AI-ASSISTED INVENTIONS”

AUHTOR – SIDDHARTH, LLM CANDIDATE, HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, RAIPUR

BEST CITATION – SIDDHARTH, “INVENTORSHIP AND OWNERSHIP CHALLENGES IN AI-ASSISTED INVENTIONS”, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (4) OF 2026, PG. 903-914, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I484

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the twin challenges of inventorship and ownership that arise when artificial intelligence systems play a substantial role in generating patentable inventions. Drawing on the Patents Act 1970 of India, the United States Patent Act, the European Patent Convention, and the United Kingdom Patents Act 1977, the paper demonstrates that every major jurisdiction insists on a human inventor and denies AI systems any right-holding status. The landmark DABUS litigation, in which courts across the US, EPO, and UK unanimously refused to recognise an AI as a named inventor, is examined in depth. The paper goes beyond the settled human-only rule to address the more contested questions of how to attribute inventorship when AI substantially contributes to conception, and how to allocate ownership among the multiple actors typically present in AI-driven research and development environments. Comparative guidance from the USPTO (2024) and EPO studies on AI inventorship is assessed alongside the relative silence of Indian law. The paper concludes with concrete legislative and administrative reform proposals designed to harmonise India’s patent regime with international best practice while preserving incentives for AI-intensive innovation.

Keywords: AI inventorship, patent ownership, DABUS, Patents Act 1970, joint inventorship, AI-assisted inventions, comparative patent law