RETHINKING INVENTORSHIP AND PATENT ELIGIBILITY IN AN AGE OF AI: A STUDY ON PATENTS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

This paper examines the evolving intersection between patent law and artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on two critical issues: the legal recognition of AI as an inventor and the patentability of AI-generated inventions. It analyses how patent regimes in key jurisdictions—including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and India—have responded to AI inventorship, particularly through landmark rulings such as the DABUS case. The paper adopts a doctrinal and comparative legal methodology, examining legislative frameworks, administrative decisions, and case laws. It explores the challenges posed by AI technologies to traditional patent criteria such as novelty, non-obviousness, and utility, and evaluates how existing legal standards are adapting to technological progress. Based on this analysis, the study proposes a hybrid inventorship framework and tailored patentability tests for AI-generated inventions to promote innovation while preserving human accountability.