The Evolution of Patent Law and Its Implications on Businesses

Derek Pride

Dr. Karen Maguire???

CBAD 798

1 May 2016

The Evolution of Patent Law and Its Implications on Businesses

Introduction

The history of patents is a fascinating and vast topic that involves the government-granted protection of an individual’s intellectual property. Today, a patent is defined as “an official document that gives a person or company the right to be the only one that makes or sells a product for a certain period of time” (“Patent”). However, the specific period of time that the patent is valid for and the requirements for obtaining a patent have drastically evolved over time. In order to comprehend the reasoning behind the current patent laws, especially regarding the United States Patent Act of 1952 (35 USCA. Sec. 1-293), it is necessary to understand how Patent laws have evolved throughout history.

The Origin of Patents

The exact origin of patents is questioned by historians, however, there are two possible origins from which patents were originally formed. The first was in 500 BC, in Sybaris, Greece where “encouragement was held out to all who should discover any new refinement in luxury, the profits arising from which were secured to the inventor by the patent for space of a year” (Anthon and Adams 1273). The second possibility was that patents originated in the ancient Roman Empire. In the Roman Empire, guilds were commonly formed. A guild is “an organized group of people who have joined together because they share the same job or interest” (“Guild”). These guilds relied on “a system of apprenticeship” (Devaiah), which can be “regarded as communal property, rather than a monopoly held by an individual” (Devaiah).

Around the fourteenth century, England began to utilize this guild system and King Edward III would regularly grant “letters patent” (Devaiah) in order to entice “the tradesmen and industrialists to come to England” (Devaiah). This was a strategic practice that attempted to spur England’s “lagging industrial...