Memo · Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs
Memo: AI contribution, inventorship and authorship before filing
File memo for patent and copyright matters where AI tools were used: maps each claimed feature or creative element to the human who conceived it, records the AI tools used, and confirms the named inventors and the applicant's entitlement.
- Kind
- Memo. An internal or advice memo.
- Where it applies
- Australia, United Kingdom (England and Wales), United States
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use before filing a patent application, or before asserting or assigning copyright, where AI tools contributed to the invention or work. It records the facts and the lawyer's conclusion; it is not filed with the application unless the lawyer decides to rely on it.
How AI may be used
AI may help organise the inventor disclosure, lab records and tool logs into the contribution table. The conclusion on who conceived each feature, and therefore who is named, is the lawyer's or patent attorney's, based on the inventors' own accounts.
AI may
- Index the invention disclosure, lab notebooks and AI tool logs feature by feature, with page or entry references.
- Draft the contribution table for the lawyer to complete after interviewing each contributor.
- List claimed features with no recorded human contributor.
AI must not
- Must not decide inventorship or authorship.
- Must not process unpublished invention details in a tool that trains on inputs or is not covered by confidentiality terms; disclosure could affect novelty.
- Must not draft the patent specification or claims.
The lawyer checks
- Each named inventor contributed to the conception of at least one claimed feature, confirmed in interview.
- The applicant's entitlement chain under s 15(1)(b) or (c) is documented by employment terms or assignment.
- The memo is updated if the claims are amended.
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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