the material conditions of the entity (The Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress,2020).
In the first case, if an employee of the entity uses
artificial intelligence to complete the invention and
creation as part of the work task assigned by the
entity, obviously the patentee of the invention
belongs to the entity. In the second case, if an
employee uses the artificial intelligence equipment
owned by the entity to complete the invention, the
patent right may belong to the entity. It can be seen
that in service inventions, although the inventor has
contributed a great deal of wisdom and cost, the
patent right still belongs to the entity.
A commissioned invention means entrusting
others to complete the invention and creation in the
manner agreed upon in the contract. Regarding the
ownership of the patent right for this type of
invention, both China's Patent Law and Contract Law
adopt the principle of contract priority, that is, the
patentee is determined according to the content
agreed upon in the contract. If the contract agreement
is unclear or there is no arrangement regarding the
ownership of the patent right, generally the principle
of giving priority to the entrusting party (i.e., the
inventor) is adopted, and the inventor shall enjoy the
patent right. In the case of a cooperative invention,
usually the patent right is jointly owned by all
inventors.
3.1.2 Current Situation of Domestic
Theoretical Research
Facing the diverse subjects of patent rights, the
Chinese academic community generally adopts the
"user theory" and the "investor theory" for the
arrangement of the patent rights of the generated
inventions.
The internal logic of the operation of artificial
intelligence is to display the inner thoughts and
concepts of users through its own powerful
capabilities of information retrieval, resource
integration, and advanced deep learning ability, based
on the language and instructions input by users.
During the operation of artificial intelligence, users
also need to continuously modify and correct the
generated content to achieve the original
expectations. Throughout the whole process, users
need to spend a lot of time and energy. Evidently,
users have made outstanding and substantial
contributions to the output of the generated products,
which conforms to the definition of an inventor in
China's Patent Law.
Therefore, many scholars in the academic
community believe that users have carried out a large
amount of preparatory work in the process of artificial
intelligence invention and creation, and have made
substantial contributions to the output of the content,
so they should be eligible as patent right holders. Liu
Youhua and Wei Yuanshan believe that users have
collected, screened, integrated, and optimized the
relevant information content before operating
artificial intelligence. The resulting technical solution
is essentially a manifestation of the user's wisdom and
makes a substantial contribution to the output
technical solution (Liu, Wei, 2019). Yang Lihua
believes that users of artificial intelligence are deeply
involved in every stage of invention and creation,
making huge and substantial contributions to the
generation of invention and creation. They are closely
linked to the invention and creation of artificial
intelligence in terms of time and space. Moreover,
this can prevent patent rights from being monopolized
by investment companies with strong capital,
promote the sharing of artificial intelligence patent
achievements among individuals, and contribute to
the balance of social public interests (Yang, 2023).
Wang Zhengzhong believes that users will provide
certain data samples, material and financial resources,
as well as technical support to the program during the
invention and creation process of artificial
intelligence. At the same time, the direct use of
artificial intelligence inventions and creations by
users can better face the market, reduce many
intermediate links, save a large amount of time,
manpower, and technical costs, and better apply and
promote them in the market, thus promoting the
prosperous development of the economic society. It
can also more efficiently combine with traditional
enterprises, promote the digital transformation and
upgrading of traditional enterprises, and thus generate
more applicable technical achievements (Wang,
2019). Liu Youhua and Li Yangfan believe that if
there is an agreement on the ownership of the patent
rights of the generated products of artificial
intelligence in advance, it shall be subject to the
agreement. If there is no agreement, it shall be
analyzed according to the theory of creative
contribution. The operation of artificial intelligence is
carried out under the user's instructions and makes a
contribution to the output of the generated products.
Therefore, the patent rights of the generated products
should belong to the users of artificial intelligence
(Liu, Li, 2023).
The author believes that as the operator of
artificial intelligence, the user has his own concepts
and assumptions about the outstanding features and
functions of the generated product. In fact, the user
regards artificial intelligence as a production tool and