China National Intellectual Property Administration, Guidelines for Applying for Patents for Artificial Intelligence-Related Inventions (Draft for Comments)

Issued: December 6, 2024

Main contents: An inventor signing patent documents must be a natural person, and artificial intelligence systems and other subjects that are not natural persons may not serve as inventors. When there are multiple inventors, each inventor must be a natural person. An inventor’s property rights to earned income and personal right to sign his/her name are both civil rights and, as such, only civil subjects that satisfy the provisions of civil law may serve as the holder of inventor related civil rights. As an artificial intelligence system cannot currently enjoy civil rights as a civil subject, it cannot serve as an inventor.