American Patent Law: A Business and Economic History

537 Pages·2023·8.988 MB·English

by  Robert P. Merges

american patent law
Students and established scholars of intellectual property law often look for historical
contextwhentryingtounderstandthedevelopmentandpresent-daycontoursofIPrules
and systems. American Patent Law supplies this context, offering readers a comprehen-
siveaccountoftheevolutionoftheUSpatentsystemandpatentdoctrinebeginningin
1790.Fromthetechnologiesforharvestingwoodandshoemakingintheearliestperiods
tocomputersoftwareandbiotechnologyofthepresent,eachchapterofthebookcovers
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
acrossAmericanhistory.
robert merges isaprofessoroflawatBerkeleyLaw(UniversityofCalifornia),where
he co-directs the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. He has been writing about
patentsandpatentlawforoverthirtyyears.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press
American Patent Law
a business and economic history
ROBERT P. MERGES
University of California, Berkeley
Published online by Cambridge University Press
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781009123419
doi:10.1017/9781009129206
©RobertP.Merges2022
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Firstpublished2022
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names:Merges,RobertP.,author.
title:Americanpatentlaw:abusinessandeconomichistory/RobertP.Merges,Universityof
California,Berkeley.
description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2022.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2021057922(print)|lccn2021057923(ebook)|isbn9781009123419(hardback)|
isbn9781009125796(paperback)|ISBN9781009129206(epub)
subjects:lcsh:Patentlawsandlegislation–UnitedStates–History.
classification:lcckf3114.M4632022(print)|lcckf3114(ebook)|ddc346.7304/86–dc23/eng/
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This book is dedicated to the community of scholars that is the
University of California at Berkeley. Being among you is one of
the great satisfactions of my life.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Contents
Listof Figures page ix
Listof Tables xv
Preface xvii
1 Introduction: Overviewand Themes 1
2 FoundingEra Patent Law, 1790–1820 43
3 TheJacksonian Era and Early Industrialization, 1820–1880 102
4 Corporatization, 1880–1920 190
5 1921–1982: Patents In and Out of the Headlines 275
6 TheFederal CircuitEra 376
7 InConclusion 476
Index 497
vii
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Figures
1.1 Simple or naïve version ofthe Demsetz view of
propertyrights page34
2.1 Coveredbridge with Ithiel Town–designedtriangular trusses 68
2.2 Complexfractional patent shares assignmentpattern 72
2.3 Plat map ofa portion ofGuthrie County, Iowa 83
2.4 Dr. WilliamThornton, first commissioner ofpatents 89
3.1 Population,GDP, and GDP per capita, 1820–1879 104
3.2 Patenting activity, 1840–1880 105
3.3 Patents in force, 1840–1880 105
3.4 USpatent9,340,“Self-Adjusting[Shoe]PegFloater,”issuedtoD.D.
AllenOctober19,1852.Usedtocutwoodenpegsprojectingfromshoe
soles;pegsattachthe shoebottom (sole) tothe upper. The shoe
bottomis placed facing the peg-cutter; pegs are cut by the rotating
blade,firstsideE(forpegsonthefrontoftheshoebeingmade)then
side D (for pegsin the heel) 108
3.5 Fairbanksplatformscale,from US patent6573X, issued June
13, 1831 110
3.6 Fairbanksscale works distribution strategy, 1833 113
3.7 Bessemer process vessel: Air injected on the underside,superheating
the liquidiron andmakingsteel more efficiently. US patent49,055,
issued toHenryBessemer,July 25,1865 118
3.8 Total cumulativerailroad trackmileage1830–1914 122
3.9 ABaldwinLocomotive c.1890 123
3.10 US patentRE 117,issuedto Samuel F.B. Morse, original issue date
June 20, 1840, reissuedJune 13, 1848, “Improvementin
ElectromagneticTelegraphs,” drawings p. 4. The device on the left
generatesthe signal by breaking the currentin the circuit;the
“register”on the rightreceivesthe signal andrecords it on a spool of
ix
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