South Africa Scores a First for Intellectual Property (IP)

SA is usually criticized for not bringing its copyright laws into the digital age. In a new ruling,  SA’s patent office granted a patent in July 2021 to an invention created by an AI system. The invention that received the go-ahead is for a system of interlocking food containers with a fractal geometry-based design that improves grip and heat transfer. This makes them easily graspable and stackable by robots. While SA’s patent award is certainly trailblazing, it has received considerable backlash from international intellectual property experts who have been traditionally hostile to “artificially intelligent” inventors.