WIPS global: [International IP Briefing] US, AU

U.S. Department of Energy Announces $3.16 billion to build battery manufacturing and supply chain for Electric Vehicles (EV)

On May 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $3.16 billion in funding to build battery manufacturing and supply chains for electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. based on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

On Nov. 8, 2021, the Biden government signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a large-scale investment bill worth $1 trillion for social reform and economic growth. The bill specifies more than $7 billion in aid to strengthen the battery supply chain, including investments to produce and recycle minerals without new mining or purchase of key minerals for battery manufacturing in the United States.

The main contents of this presentation are as follows.

DOE's Infrastructure Investment Act provides $3.1 billion in funding to produce more batteries and components in the U.S., strengthen domestic supply chains, create decent jobs and cut costs. Infrastructure investment is supported for the construction of new, modified and expanded facilities, prototyping and battery recycling. DOE provides a separate $60 million to support processes related to power supply and recycling of electric vehicles.

This funding is a key component of the government's goal to strengthen the US' energy independence by reducing reliance on its battery supply chains on competing countries, and to have electric vehicles account for half of all vehicles sold in the US by 2030.

As the global lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow rapidly over the next 10 years, DOE will continue to prepare related infrastructure and cooperate with the industry in response to the growing market demand.

The ‘Infrastructure Investment Act’ includes investments in electric vehicle chargers (US$7.5 billion), electric transportation buses (US$5 billion), and clean school buses (US$5 billion) in addition to battery manufacturing and supply chain construction.

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Federal Court of Australia granted an appeal from IP Australia on the judgment recognizing artificial intelligence as an inventor

On 13 April 2022, the Federal court of Australia granted an appeal from the Commissioner of IP Australia on a ruling that artificial intelligence (AI) could be regarded as an inventor.

Dr. Stephen Thaler, an artificial intelligence developer, developed 'DABUS', an AI creativity machine that creates new ideas by connecting and expanding neural networks on their own.

A research team led by Ryan Abbott of the University of Surrey in the UK applied for a patent invented by DABUS, an artificial intelligence (AI), to various patent offices around the world in 2018 with the inventor DABUS.

Patent offices in major countries such as the UK, US, Europe, and Korea decided to reject the patent on the grounds that artificial intelligence could not be recognized as the inventor of the DABUS invention.

IP Australia also rejected the registration, stating that Article 15 of the Patent Act 1990 stipulates that ‘a patent right is granted only to a person’, so that a non-human inventor cannot become a patentee.

On 30 July 2021, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that "an inventor … can be an artificial intelligence system or device," stating that there is no definition of 'inventor' in the Australian Patent Act.

Accordingly, the commissioner of IP Australia appealed the above decision, on February 9, 2022, the Full Court of the Federal Court heard the appeal. On April 13, 2016, it was unanimously announced that they would grant an appeal of the director.

According to the IP Australia, the decision confirms the commissioner's view that, for the purposes of Australian patent law, an inventor named in a patent application must be a natural person.