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The Beginnings -- Patents & Copyrights

Monday, March 1, 2010 8:08 am

Patents and Copyrights had its beginnings in 1790 with the ratification of The Constitution.

United States Constitution, Article I Section 8 Clause 8:
[Congress shall have the power] "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

This Constitutional clause is the foundation upon which the United States’ Patent and Copyright Laws are built. Interestingly neither term “patent” or “copyright” appear. “Author” and “Inventor” were used to recognize the rights of the individual.

Because our fore fathers were mainly descended from Britain, they knew that rewarding ingenuity was vital to the growth of a strong nation. As a template, English Parliament in 1624 provided inventors with 14 years of exclusive rights in the Statute of Monopolies, and a 1710 English statute provided authors of books with sole publishing rights.

Here in the United States, Congress passed the Patent Act of 1793 requiring that a patentable invention be “new, useful” and be of a “physical form.” Ideas and theories were not patentable. The updated Patent Act of 1952 further added that an invention had to be “nonobvious to a person having ordinary skill in the pertinent art” to be granted a patent. These four standards continue through today.

The U.S. Congress codified copyright legislation with the Copyright Act of 1790 establishing a Copyright Office within the Library of Congress. At first, copyrights were granted for only maps, charts and books. Over the years, Copyright laws have been amended several times, most recently in 1976.

Today, Copyright Law protects a variety of "original works of authorship," including in part: literary, dramatic, music, jewelry designs, sculptures, sound recordings, photographs, software and other intellectual works. It is not a requirement that a copyrighted work be published. One confusing aspect of copyright law is that a copyright cannot protect an “idea”, but rather, a copyright can protect the author’s “expression of the idea.”

Now in the 21st century, the Writings and Discoveries of United States Patent and Copyright holders continue to lead the world with Progress in Science and in the useful Arts.

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