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Japan's AI inventorship bar leaves inventive step issues unsettled

By Toko Sekiguchi ( September 25, 2025, 07:52 GMT | Comment) -- While Japan’s Intellectual Property High Court has ruled that only natural persons can be inventors under the Patent Act, questions remain on inventive step. As AI becomes part of everyday research, the skilled-person standard is emerging as the issue that will determine how much human ingenuity still counts.While Japan’s Intellectual Property High Court has ruled that only natural persons can be inventors under the Patent Act, questions remain on inventive step. As AI becomes part of everyday research, the skilled-person standard is emerging as the issue that will determine how much human ingenuity still counts....

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