Decisions · Office · South Africa
DABUS patent grant
Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) · 2021-07 · Office decision · Current
Can AI be an inventor?
AI can be inventor
Patent granted naming an AI as inventor
Holding
South Africa granted a patent listing DABUS as inventor. South Africa does not substantively examine patents, so the grant is not a reasoned ruling on AI inventorship.
A grant without examination is not a precedent. It shows how much procedure matters when comparing countries.
Principles it bears on
- Goes the other wayOnly a natural person can be named as an inventor.
Sources
No official text linked yet: this summary relies on a secondary source. Verify against the original before citing.
This record
Data as of 2026-10-21.
Drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources linked above; not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Methodology
No changes logged yet. The change log started on 2026-10-20.