American Patent Law A Business and Economic History

Students and established scholars of intellectual property law often look for historical context when trying to understand the development and present-day contours of IP rules and systems. American Patent Law supplies this context, offering readers a comprehensive account of the evolution of the US patent system and patent doctrine beginning in 1790. From the technologies for harvesting wood and shoemaking in the earliest periods to computer software and biotechnology of the present, each chapter of the book covers the characteristic technologies of each historical era. The book also describes how businesspeople in each era acquired and enforced patents and used patents as the foundation of various business arrangements. This book is a landmark in the history of technologies, the US patent system, and the way private actors have deployed patents across American history.

1. Introduction: Overview and themes; 2. Founding era patent law, 1790-1820; 3. The Jacksonian era and early industrialization, 1820-1880; 4. Corporatization, 1880-1920; 5. 1921-1982: Patents in and out of the headlines; 6. The federal circuit era; 7. In conclusion: The private (law) life of patents.

Robert Merges is a professor of law at Berkeley Law (University of California), where he co-directs the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. He has been writing about patents and patent law for over thirty years.