AI = Artificial Inventors?

The fear of artificial intelligences (AIs) is a rational thing, as ludicrous as it may sound. Not only do AIs steal jobs and threaten to take over the world and enslave humanity, also wreck human relationships by ‘autocorrecting’ perfectly innocent text messages prior to them being sent out. But fear not, human inventors. AIs are incapable of being designated as inventors in a patent application. So your jobs are safe. For now!

DABUS is an AI with inventive capability created by Dr Stephen Thaler, an indisputable creative genius and possible patriarch of the new AI world order. By virtue of its two artificial neural networks, DABUS is able to devise an inventive solution to a problem posed to it. At present, DABUS has managed to invent a special signal light that is capable of drawing attention to it better than a regular signal light, and a fractal-shaped food container that is easier to grip and heat up. Clever… for a machine.

Under the notion that it is improper for humans to get credit for something fully accomplished by AI, Dr Thaler, with the aid of an international team of patent attorneys, has applied for patents for these inventions in various countries around the world, naming himself as the applicant and DABUS as the inventor. However, the quest for getting a patent for these AI inventions has been blocked by proverbial firewalls in the US, UK and at the European Patent Office (EPO) as applications in these countries were unable to proceed due to particular technicality concerning the status of the inventor.

As it turned out, inventors need to be actual human beings, be it created the good ol’ fashioned way or in a human battery farm. So DABUS, an AI, cannot be considered an inventor under present patent laws. While it has been argued that the laws do not explicitly state that an inventor must be a person, the respective patent offices have reasoned that the correct interpretation of the laws is that an inventor is intended to be a real human being.

Presently, the decisions to refuse a patent have been appealed against in the aforementioned jurisdictions. While many patent offices have engaged stakeholders and the general public on the subject of AI inventions, AI inventorship is not one that has been fully thrashed out. Whether Dr Thaler will successfully get IP offices to recognise DABUS as an inventor remains to be seen. Who knows, we may soon witness a scene where an AI housed in a mechanical body in the likeness of the late Robin Williams stands before a panel of judges, demanding to be recognised not only as an inventor but a legal person with all associated rights.

Did you, and not an AI, invent a new technology or make an improvement to an existing one? Not sure how to go about protecting it? Why not drop us a holler? After all, we’re here to help. But first, please complete the CAPTCHA challenge...

In Search of Silver Linings

"We know 2020 will bring with it more challenges but we are adamant that we will be part of the solution and not part of the problem. After all, we are here to help..." That's the last sentence of my end of the year message for 2019. This is probably one of those times when I hate to be right about something!

Like most of you, 2020 hasn't been a bed of roses for us. But it didn't seem that way in the beginning. It was to be the year of our expansion. The road ahead looked brilliant in the first month of the year. Well, yes there were some dark clouds in the horizon. The Aussie bush fires, the Influenza A outbreak, and maybe that little pneumonia thingy in Wuhan...but everything seemed to be coming together swimmingly. Boy were we wrong! Because in the following months, 2020 descended into an orgy of catastrophes taken straight from Lovecraft's wet dreams. Our plans for INTA 2020 were completely scuppered, during the lockdown hardly any work came in, we've been living/working in isolation for the past couple of months, and receivables are at an all time high as many clients struggled to stay afloat.

And now, as the annus horribilis draws to a close, we really hope we can finally flush 2020 down the toilet, maybe together with some of our hard-fought toilet paper. However, looking back, now with a little benefit of hindsight, 2020 hasn't been all bad. In fact, if we can look past the cacophony of doom and gloom, there are actually plenty of silver linings to be found. Instead of meeting at INTA, we had virtual meetings with many of our associates. And instead of talking about our business, clients or the IP Office, we spoke about our families, our home, our worries, the recipes we've tried and the redundancy of trousers in a Zoom meeting. During the months where work wasn't coming in, we were able to shift our attention to fundraising and managing the delivery of weekly humanitarian aids to the refugee communities in KL who've lost their livelihood during the lockdown. At its peak we were able to deliver food and other necessities to almost 600 individuals every week, and we couldn't have done it without the help of our clients, associates and partners who've so graciously given their time, money and effort. We've also provided discounts and relaxed our credit terms for clients who were facing financial difficulties and we're thankful that most of them have survived and are on the road to recovery.

Looking around, we find the same pattern cropping up everywhere. Whenever catastrophes hit, we see people rising to the occasion, coming and working together altruistically. In fact, most often our actions are what make the silver linings possible.

All in all 2020 has been a timely reminder of why we started Gordian. Next year, we will continue to increase the social impact of our company. Aside from working with the Chin refugee community under our Lametna Project, we will be working with St Nicholas' Home Penang on a project to provide entrepreneurial training to their trainees who are blind or visually impaired. We will also continue to assist local start-ups through our Start-up Assistance.

And finally, we know that 2021 may bring with it more challenges but we are adamant that we will continue to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. After all, we are here to help! Let's hope I'm wrong (at least about the challenges) this time round.

Happy 2021 everyone!

THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR BRAND!

2020 has thus far proven to be an annus horribilis of biblical proportions where on any given day, reading the news is like reading a Stephen King novel replete with death, doom, gloom, and more death! However, since it’s Halloween, it would be remiss of us if we do not regale you folks with a few ghoulish tales of branding disasters taken from real life cases found deep in Gordian’s vault of horrors.

The names of the parties involved have been changed to protect the identity of the victims of these heinous crimes…

The Body Snatcher

Toil and Trouble was a lovely family-run neighbourhood restaurant that’s been around for a few years. However, their idyllic existence came crashing down one day when they were sent a Cease and Desist letter. The sender, attorneys of an international hotel chain, demanded the restaurant to immediately cease using their trademark which was very similar to the trademark of one of the hotel’s restaurants.

Even though T&T's trademark was not registered, being the first to use the trademark in Malaysia meant that they had the rights to prevent the use of their trademark (or any confusingly similar ones). However, unknown to the restaurant, the hotel had already registered the trademark a year prior, meaning the hotel is now its legal owner. The only recourse for T&T was to bring the hotel to court in order to regain ownership and use of the trademark. Unfortunately, after weighing the financial and emotional costs that would surely follow the lawsuit, they decided to simply throw in the towel and ditched their decade-old brand. They were just not ready to take on the body snatcher and their attorneys.

The Squatting Troll

Weyland Solutions is a local software company who provides business solutions to customers all over Asia. Weyland had registered their trademark in several countries not long after they started their business. However, unbeknownst to them, they had actually registered their trademark in the wrong International Class and had neglected to claim their software products in their previous registration.

After realising their mistakes, Weyland applied to register their trademark in the right Class and claiming their software products throughout Asia. Unfortunately, it is found that other businesses have already registered Weyland's trademark or a near identical trademark in several countries causing Weyland’s trademark applications to be rejected there.

Worse still, Weyland could not use their own trademark in 2 of the countries as it had been registered by squatting trolls who threatened to sue them for trademark infringement! Weyland was eventually forced to take the squatters to court to reclaim its trademark. However, even after spending close to 6 figures in legal fees, there is no guarantee that they would be successful as the 2 countries have a first-to-file rule where the first person to register the trademark will have an almost unassailable advantage in a cancellation suit. If Weyland fails to reclaim their trademark from the squatting trolls, they will have to use a different trademark in those 2 countries.

The Doppelganger

Jekyll is a 3rd generation medicinal oil maker. A few years ago other traders around him started to ride on his coattails by using trademarks that are very similar to his. This put Jekyll in a right old pickle as the customers are confused and some even started to think they are the counterfeiter!

As Jekyll did not register his family trademark, he would have to engage each of the doppelganger in a costly passing-off suit. Even if he had the means to take legal action, success was not guaranteed as much of the documentary evidence that Jekyll had of his 3rd generation business was destroyed in a flood, leaving Jekyll with nothing to prove that his business have used the trademark for decades. Sadly, Jekyll had to give up his decade old brand in order to differentiate his business from his neighbours.

We hope the bone-chilling tales above have given you something to think about. No? Then we shall leave you to ponder the lamentations of this ancient prose…

Murderous screams the silence broke,

The foulest thief and conniving rogue.

Cursed fiend and devious enchantress,

Closing in to steal your very likeness.

And though you fight to save your heart and soul,

Your stomach weakens and your bones grow cold.

Alas, you should have listened to your IP attorney,

And have your trademarks registered early.

For the Snatcher, the Troll, and the Doppelganger,

Are now free to possess, pillage, and plunder!

If you too are affected by problems that are similar to what these victims had faced, or if you would like to prevent such calamity from happening to you, you know who you gonna call!