The Patent Controversy in the Nineteenth Century

The patent system has lately been subjected to investigations by committees of Congress, and reforms have been proposed to meet some of the most serious criticisms. In recent publications commenting on these discussions it has been suggested that opposition to the patent system is a new development....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of economic history 1950-05, Vol.10 (1), p.1-29
Main Authors: Machlup, Fritz, Penrose, Edith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abolition
Attorneys
Inventions
Inventors
Monopoly
Parliaments
Patent law
Political economy
Property rights
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The patent system has lately been subjected to investigations by committees of Congress, and reforms have been proposed to meet some of the most serious criticisms. In recent publications commenting on these discussions it has been suggested that opposition to the patent system is a new development. A writer of a “history of the patent monopoly” asserted that “there never has been, until the present time, any criticism of this type of exclusive privilege,” and he attributed the allegedly new attitude to “modern witch-hunters,” “hungry aspirants to public office,” and, by innuendo, to enemies of all private property.
ISSN:0022-0507
1471-6372
DOI:10.1017/S0022050700055893