17 Mar 2023
THALER v COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS [2023] NZHC 554
- Citation
- [2023] NZHC 554
- Court
- High Court
The statutory text, context and legislative history show Parliament intended the concept of inventor to operate in the established way tied to natural persons and to prevent importers from being treated as inventors; there is no clear legislative intention to treat non-human entities as inventors and it is not the role of the courts to expand that definition — accordingly the Assistant Commissioner's decision refusing to accept DABUS as inventor and to treat the application as void was correct and the appeal is dismissed.