Source: Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP reports that in November 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued revised guidance regarding inventorship for AI-assisted inventions, effectively rescinding its February 2024 policy. This revision implements President Trump's Executive Order 14179. The new guidance reaffirms that only natural persons can be named as inventors on patent applications and that AI systems cannot receive patents. However, inventions developed by humans using AI tools remain patentable provided the human inventor contributed significantly to the conception of the invention.

The update introduces strict fact-specific inquiries to determine patent eligibility, asking whether the inventor had a "definite and permanent idea" of the complete invention or merely a general research plan. If the human contribution does not rise to the level of specific conception—meaning the invention was not clearly defined in the inventor's mind without extensive AI experimentation—the patent is likely to be rejected. The guidance also clarifies that for U.S. applications claiming priority to foreign applications naming AI as a joint inventor, the U.S. filing must list only the natural persons.