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The History of Patent Law; Past, Present and Future
The definition of patent, as defined by the United States Patent and Trade Office,
“A property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an
inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention
throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States for a
limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is
granted”. Most people cannot state the definition of Patent Law let alone appreciate the
effects that this law has on every product impacting their daily lives.
The basis of patent law originated with the Venetian Patent Act of 1474,
however, some believe the idea of patents or the protection of one’s ideas may go as
far back as Ancient Greece. In 1623, England enacted the Statue of Monopolies, under
King James, similar to the Venetian Act. For the United States, it started with the
constitution. Article I, Section 8, clause 8 states “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”. Thomas Jefferson helped write the
first official patent law in 1790.
Since the original patent law was drafted it has gone through several revisions,
the following are a few of the more significant modifications. The first revision is the
Patent Act of 1793. The major revision at that time was the law now preventing non US
citizens from obtaining patents. (Patent Act of 1793, Ch. 11, 1 Stat. 318-323, (February
21, 1793)). The next notable revision is the Patent Act of 1836, which establishes that
the applicant must differentiate his idea from another’s prior art by pointing out the exact
nature of improvements or the parts that are different. The Act also revised the law so
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that non-national residence could now obtain patents. (Patent Act of 1836, Ch. 357, 5
Stat. 117 (July 4, 1836)). The Patent Act of 1897 revised some of the bars on granting
patents; if a foreign patent has been issued, then the applicant must apply for a US
patent within seven months. Also that the applicant may not apply for a patent if the item
has been described or in use in the public for two years prior to the application. (Patent
Act of 1897, Ch. 391, 29 Stat. 692-694 (March 3, 1897)). The Plant Patent Act of 1930
is the first law that protected biological materials. The act affords protection to asexually
reproduced plants. (Enacted on 1930-06-17 as Title III of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, Ch.
497, 46 Stat. 703). This act laid the ground work for today’s laws on genetic research
and biological drugs.
In the 1930’s and 1940’s several Supreme Court cases influenced patent law.
