Protecting AI-Generated Inventions under the UK's IP Regulatory Regime

Abstract

The United Kingdom is one of the world's oldest and most progressive IP legal systems. UK presents one of the most pragmatic and conscientious IP legal systems when regulating unconventional technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI inventions. By adopting a blend of conservative and progressive approaches to AI regulation, the UK's IP legal system promises to be one of the most robust, optimal and collegial AI regulatory jurisdictions for critical legal analysis and examination. UK's regulatory and policy regime for AI and AI inventions is emerging from the multi-stakeholder and multiinstitutional consultative process in which the perspectives from eminent academics, experts from industry, state regulatory and research institutions are being solicited and synthesized. The UK is currently undertaking a consultation on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on intellectual property (IP) Law, specifically on patents and trade secrets. The outcomes of this consultation will help shape the UK's IP framework, ensuring it remains fit for purpose in the digital age and encourages innovation while protecting the rights of inventors and creators. The research paper critically examines the legal and economic intricacies and ramifications of the UK's quest to fashion a futuristic yet conscientious IP legal regime for regulating AI and AI-generated inventions. By adopting a doctrinal, critical legal and economic analysis approach, the research paper first examines the fitness of the UK's patent, copyright and trade secret laws for protecting AI-generated inventions to accentuate the regimental and regulatory inadequacies therein. The paper cross-examines how such regulatory inadequacies and implications are being resolved through the consultative engagements between the UK's Artificial Intelligence Office under the auspices of the UK's Intellectual Property Office and experts from academia and industry.