3.1 Patent or perish  (Page 2/5)

Criticism of the patent system

The major criticism of the patent system lies in the apparent creation of a monopoly. When an inventor isgranted exclusive economic control of his invention, competition is hindered. As a result, this stifles capitalism and also provides anexpensive but lower quality product.[6]

Secondly, a concept known as the "tragedy of the anticommons" presents a deeper problem in patenting. This theory wasestablished by Michael Heller and Rebecca Eisenberg in a 1998 publication of "Science."[7]In essence, their paper stated that innovations to patented inventions would be hindered due to theadditional costs of respecting royalties from the original patent. As a result, the societal benefits due to innovations of current productswould be inhibited.[8]

History of patents: from ancient greece to nanotechnology

"Before [the adoption of the United States Constitution], any man might instantly use what another had invented; so that the inventor had no special advantage from his owninvention. The patent system changed this; secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and therebyadded the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things."-Abraham Lincoln, Second lectureon discoveries and inventions, February 11, 1859

Patenting has a very lengthy history; this tradition began in a rudimentary form in ancient Greek cities. However, it wasnot until 15th century Venice that patents in today's sense were issued. This Venetian law was defined as the Venetian Statute of 1474and called for an invention's "legal protection against potentialinfringers."[9] Over time, patenting evolved throughout Europe. In theUnited Kingdom, for example, the King or Queen was given the executive power to issue "letters patent" that awarded certain people monopoliesover specific goods or services. Then, in 1790, a revolutionary breakthrough in the patenting process occurred when the United Statesestablished the Patent Commission of the U.S. The first patent (Figure 1) was awarded by this commission in this same year. [11]The most important facet of this patent system was that it recognized by lawthat an inventor had an "intrinsic" right to make money off of his or her discovery. Previously, this right was not intrinsic but ratherindividually given by a monarchal power.[12] Our founding fatherscreated this specific system to allow capitalism, the backbone of America, to flourish. This important distinction in the United Statespatent system is depicted in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution:

"Congress shall have the power...to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times toauthors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

Over time, after several amendments to the original Patent Commission, the United States Patent Office wasofficially created in 1802. From this point, hundreds of thousands of patents were given out over the course of the next two centuries.[13]