Appeal Filed: Thaler Challenges Refusal to Recognize AI as an Inventor on a Patent—Implications Beyond Inventorship

In an ongoing saga playing out in Canada and in courts around the world, Stephen Thaler has appealed to the Federal Court of Canada an underlying decision that refused to acknowledge an artificial intelligence (AI) system as an inventor. In the December 5, 2025 Notice of Appeal,1 Mr. Thaler challenges a decision of the Commissioner of Patents refusing a Canadian patent application on the basis that the listed inventor was an artificial intelligence system, and not a human….
By: Bennett Jones LLP