Contribution to the history of modern patent legislation in the United States and in France

Abstract

The history of patent legislation is the ugly duckling of history. The political historian cannot see anything worth mentioning in this connection; the economic historian will probably confine his attention to the English Statute of Monopolies though he may discuss patents in reference to the industrial revolution of the 18th century; the legal historian regards it as a speciality hardly worthy of the time and space normally devoted to the extensive and traditional subjects of the law. And, finally, the history of engineering does not yet belong to an acknowledged branch of science in which research can be carried out on any significant scale.