Who Holds the Right to Exclude for Machine Work Products?

Abstract

This article investigates whether the inventions and works created by Artificial Intelligence should be patent-able and copyright-able and if so, who should be assigned these rights. This article uses US case law and incentive economics to answer these questions. This article discusses who of the machine, its creators, owners, or operators should be assigned the rights to exclude others if policymakers want to promote the progress of science and useful arts. All four candidates raise legal problems. Based on current law, the users may be able to patent their invention but other works would fall into the public domain. Assigning exclusion rights to any party distorts the incentives of the other parties. The Intellectual Property system is maladapted to deal with these intelligent machines. Instead, these inventions and works should fall into the public domain. The four candidates can use alternative business models to profit from the machine’s creations.

Keywords: patent, copyright, artificial intelligence, second generation

JEL Classification: K00, K11, O34, O3