Potter Clarkson appointed in landmark UK AI inventorship appeal

• Appeal to be heard at the High Court in July 2025 could have major commercial ramifications for patents created with AI assistance or wholly by AI models.

London – May 8, 2025 – Potter Clarkson, a leading intellectual property law firm, has been appointed by US-based firm Brown Neri Smith & Khan LLP to represent Dr Stephen Thaler in his appeal against the UK Intellectual Property Office’s (UKIPO) decision to reject patent applications for two inventions produced by Dr Thaler’s artificial intelligence (AI) system called DABUS. 

The UK Supreme Court’s December 2023 ruling confirmed that under current UK law, an AI system cannot be named as an inventor. The latest appeal, scheduled for July 2025, addresses patents related to those litigated at the Supreme Court. This latest challenge questions the UKIPO’s refusal to accept Dr Thaler being named as inventor following the Supreme Court’s clarification.

Since Dr Thaler’s patent applications were initially filed in 2018, the role of AI in invention and creativity has evolved significantly. From boardrooms to laboratories, AI systems are now driving innovation at unprecedented speed and could have major commercial ramifications, prompting urgent questions about how intellectual property law, still based on the 1977 Patent Act, should adapt.

Dr Thaler’s litigation is part of the wider Artificial Inventor Project, spearheaded by Professor Ryan Abbott, Professor of Law and Health Sciences at the University of Surrey and counsel of record in Thaler’s US and UK cases. The project aims to address the legal handling of AI-generated inventions across jurisdictions.

Mark Nichols, Head of AI at Potter Clarkson, said: “I had been closely following Dr Thaler’s previous line of cases culminating in the Supreme Court decision, and this important economic and philosophical debate about the value of AI creativity and inventiveness, so had no hesitation in accepting Professor Abbott’s proposal to be involved in the UK appeals. DABUS is an extremely interesting project, and our team at Potter Clarkson is excited to be working on it.”

Professor Ryan Abbott said: “When we commenced our Artificial Inventor Project, we had three goals in mind: 1) to generate guidance for stakeholders; 2) to promote a public discourse on how the law should deal with the use of AI in invention; and 3) to promote the view that AI-generated inventions are beneficial to protect. We have already achieved some of these goals. The new appeal led by Potter Clarkson will add to the Artificial Inventor Project by looking at the more procedural points of AI patent applications.” 

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