Two patents filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office and the U.K.’s Intellectual Property Office recently caught the eye of patent attorneys and the broader tech world. It wasn’t the ideas—a food container and light display seeking patent status—that grabbed people’s attention, but instead the fact that the patent application listed a machine as an inventor.

To be sure, patent lawyers say it’s unlikely the international patent offices will allow a machine to be listed as an inventor. But they noted the filing may spark conversation regarding innovations developed by software.