Patenting System - a Historic Perspective

News items flooding from our daily information sources on patents, company law suits, intellectual property rights, and the like would make one believe that the system of patenting is quite young. On the contrary, history of patenting dates back to more than five hundred years.

The present day patent concept was first implemented in England in 1449. King Henry VI of England granted a 20 year monopoly to one, John Utynam, on his stained glass manufacturing process. Though, stained glass manufacturing process was prevalent then, in various parts of England, it was the first state-granted limited monopoly for an industrial practice. By 1552, open letters called Letters Patent were issued under the Great Seal of the King, to officers and friends patronized by the Court. These Letters Patent were issued not only on inventions but on industries, too. For example, the stationers enjoyed a privileged monopoly over publishing industry in England. In 1624, the English Parliament under the directions of Sir Francis Bacon, a great thinker of those times, adopted the doctrine of public interest into patenting. It passed the Statute of Monopolies, recognizing the economic benefits through innovation and awarded patents to protect the rights of the inventors for a term of 14 years.

Immigrants from England in search of new shores of opportunity, traveled to the New World that was already discovered by Christopher Columbus. In 1585, authorized with a patent from Queen Elizabeth to claim and colonize the “heathen and barbarous lands”, Sir Walter Raleigh, established the first British colony in North America. Along with the colonizers came the patenting system from England to America. The patenting system was followed provincially within the various British colonies.

In due course of time, the need to protect the interests of the inventors was constitutionally recognized and included in the US constitution as the Intellectual Property Clause. Over the next fifty years, after the US constitution was framed, the US Congress passed the Patent Acts of 1790, 1793, and 1836. These Patent Acts formed the basis for the first legally regulated patenting system. The Patent Act of 1790 was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. The 14 years exclusivity of rights over an invention was retained in this Act, and it was required to submit s along with the applications. Under the 1790 Act patents were issued only to physical inventions that were put into practice and not on ideas.

The patent application examination extended over several months and the granting happened over even longer durations. Between 1790 and 1793 only 57 patents were issued owing to inefficiency at the level of processing patent applications. As a response to the mounting pressure from the inventors the Patent Act of 1793 was passed to make the patent system efficient. Between 1793 and 1836, there was an increase in the number of patent applications. To organize and maintain patents for easy cross examination, the Patent Act of 1836 allowed the publishing of patents and made them publicly available through libraries. The availability of knowledge of an invention from the published patent documents created interest amongst the public. Due to increasing understanding amongst people of the economic value and advantages of inventions, the number of patent applications increased from 765 in 1840 to 21,276 in 1867. A method for grouping similar patents under classes, begun in 1774, was also evolving simultaneously.

In the meantime, in England, the Statute of Monopolies continued to exist for over two hundred years. The Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1851 lead to dramatic technological changes that were inefficiently addressed by the Statue of Monopolies. With growing concerns over the state of public affairs, the Government introduced the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 and the Patent Office was instituted. In a milestone achievement of the Act of 1902, patent documents from 1855 to 1900 were condensed and classified into 1022 volumes in 146 classes. The present day legislation on patenting follows the Patents Act of 1977.

On the lines of international collaboration, the need for worldwide accessibility to intellectual property systems, including patents, was recognized in the Paris Convention in 1883. The countries entered into the Convention (contracting countries) had accessibility to the IP systems of other countries party to the Convention. Currently there are 171 countries that are party to the Paris Convention. In an effort to provide further international cooperation, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was established in 1967. WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations promoting the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. The signing of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 1970, by various countries, has made it possible to file patent applications to protect inventions in each of the contracting country. Presently, there are 184 member countries of WIPO.

On similar lines, the European Patent Convention of 1973 resulted in the establishment of European Patent Office (EPO) that is responsible for granting European patents. The 32 contracting states have entered into a multi-lateral treaty creating an autonomous legal system for granting European patents.

Presently there are about 200 patent offices including the USPTO in US, Patent Office in UK, and EPO for European countries. Patent offices like ROSPATENT and SIPO of Russia and China are as recent as 1955 and 1980. The patenting system is fast growing even in countries like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Angola and Papua New Guinea. Organizations like WIPO and EPO, additionally are promoting IP protection on a global scale.

About the Author

Ash Tankha, US patent attorney, works with inventors to develop their ideas into patent application for worldwide filing and patenting. Contact Ash Tankha atash@ipprocurement.com or visit www.ipprocurement.com.

Brave Sailors Cruise the World: Barcelona World Race

From the 1st of November the Barcelona world race village, on Moll de la Fusta opened. It is build for the famous race on the 11th of November. From the 1st of November you can see the nine competing teams as they finalise their preparations for the race, enjoy the animations and the concert programme in the days leading up to the start.

The Barcelona World Race is a new two-handed, non-stop around the world yacht race. The race starts on the 11th of November and is to be held every four years. They are racing 25000 miles in three months across the worlds most hostile and challenging oceans. This race will see the world’s best professional sailors from both solo and fully crewed disciplines coming together to compete against each other in teams of two. There has never been a crewed non-stop round the world race in monohulls before. This new concept opens up a whole new world of possibilities in the extreme offshore sailing sport, in terms of competition and race communications. The Barcelona world race will see sailors from two worlds of sailing events. Such as the Vendee Globe which is a solo sailing event and the Volvo Ocean Race, which is a crewed event.

Besides the start of the race on Sunday the 11th there are a lot of activities going on around this date. For example the International Boat Show in Port Vell, this takes place from the 3th until the 11th and is opened from 10am to 8pm. The rest of this week the program is like this:

Wednesday the 7th, there is an exposition of designs created by children from various different schools in Barcelona. They designed for each boat to promote the awareness of the climate change and the wildlife in danger. The location is at Moll de la Fusta.

Friday the 9th, the opening ceremony. This begins around 7pm on the corner of Moll de la Fusta and Moll d’Espana. The opening ceremony will present the teams and mark the start of the race with dance and music. Sunday the 11th , the race! At 10am the boats will leave the pontoons. There are several vantage points the see the boats leave. At 1pm is the official start of the Barcelona World Race 2007. The best viewing point on land for the public is the way along the Barcelona Waterfront Maritime Promenade, which includes all the beaches.

Beyond the sailing events, there are concerts in the ‘World race village’. On Tuesday there will be for example, the Triangulo de Mar. A band from Brazil with a mixture of music from Portugal, Cabo Verde, Angola and Brazil with a basis of language and culture. On the 9th of November, Friday, there’s playing a band called Vadriaki with Mediterranean music from the Greek Islands elaborated with Kavafis poetry. On Saturday there is again a band from Brazil called the Aviaba Project Trio.

About Barcelona

This city has a thousand years of maritime tradition. The history is seafaring and fishing is a thousand-year old. The harbour, dominated by a statue of Columbus atop a column, pointing the day the to United States of America is near the Royal Shipyards. The gothic building recalls the days when ships were built for war and commerce. Barcelona’s harbour, a few hundred metres from the Royal Shipyards, is now one of the most important industrial, commercial, and tourist ports in Southern Europe. It has intense maritime traffic, and welcomes over a million tourists each year as they arrive on international cruise ships through the seven terminals reserved for that class of heavy vessels.

About the Author

About Bcnloft.com
Bcnloft.com Apartments Barcelona offers online bookings for short term holiday rentals at top locations all around the city center. You can book private rooms and small apartments for groups from €18 per person. BCN loft provides an affordable option compared to expensive hotels, hostels and B&B so that you can have a pleasant stay in Barcelona.

Bcnloft.com Apartments Barcelona