Original: http://www.heckel.org/Heckel/ACM%20Paper/pathist.htm

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Brief History of Patents

Until recently Patents were thought to have originated in England and been used only there prior to America an error propagated by Jefferson, Lincoln and as late as 1948 by the Supreme Court. Recent scholarship shows their Italian origin and their early use in France, Germany, the Netherlands as well as England. Venice granted 10-year monopolies to inventors of silkmaking devices in the 1200s. These early patents were ad hoc grants. In 1474 Venice passed first patent statute. It recognized patents as a matter of right, rather than royal favor, and provided for fines and the destruction of infringing devices. Galileo was granted a patent[6].

In England, the Queen granted so many monopolies to her friends that citizens protested; so England, in 1624, passed the Statute of Monopolies. This prevented the granting of monopolies, but gave people the right to obtain patents on inventions and imports new to the realm. This statute distinguished between monopolies, which it outlawed as taking from the public what it already had, and patents, which it permitted as giving to the public what it did not yet have.

These patent laws were enacted at the end of the dark ages just before the Renaissance in Italy and the Industrial Revolution in England, suggesting that they stimulated innovation.

The Founding Fathers also believed that inventions (and writings) belong to their creators inherently-rather than to the state to be granted at its pleasure. This principle was embodied in the Constitution[1,6], where Article 1, Section 8 says,

The Congress shall have the power to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for a limited time to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.

Congress has the power, not to grant rights but to secure inherent rights. This is the principle expressed in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights." In the Federalist Papers, James Madison, in describing the patent powers observed that, "The public good fully coincides... with the claims of individuals."

The creators of the Constitution knew history, the ways of men and women, and patents-9 of the 13 colonies granted patents. We should give weight to findings of fact embodied in the Constitution. Two concern patents: Patent rights are inherent rights like freedom of speech; and patents promote innovation.

(Last updated on 10/06/98)

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