Questões de Inglês

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

Up to the end of the nineteenth century, not all patents requested would be granted; they had to be approved by the Crown.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

In mid-nineteenth century, the British patent system was adjusted in order to be able to face business competition with the expanding American market.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

Before regulation, British monarchs would use the patent system unfairly, thus favoring some people over others, which led to the increase in the prices of goods.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

The British patent system is the oldest one in the world, but it only took the form that we are familiar with today, i.e. protection for inventors, after the seventeenth century.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

Although they play an important role in the economic development of countries, patents and copyrights are still questioned as effective instruments for dealing with intellectual inventions.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

The American judiciary argues that the difference between patentees and monopolists lies in the innovative skills that the former display.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

Some economists establish a cause and effect relation between patent laws and the constitution of monopolies.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

In the American patent system, the idea of protection of individual rights goes against the idea of collective welfare.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

Innovation was one of the criteria required by the committee responsible for examining the applications for patents.

A resposta correta é:

An Economic History of Patent Institutions



Scholars such as Max Weber and Douglass North have suggested that intellectual property systems had an important
impact on the course of economic development. However, questions from other eras are still current today, ranging from
whether patents and copyrights constitute ideal policies toward intellectual inventions and their philosophical rationale to the
growing concerns of international political economy. Throughout their history, patent and copyright regimes have confronted
and accommodated technological innovations that were no less significant and contentious for their time than those of the
twenty-first century.
The British Patent System

Britain is noted for the establishment of a patent system which has been in continuous operation for a longer period than
any other in the world. English monarchs frequently used patents to reward favorites with privileges, such as monopolies over
trade that increased the retail prices of commodities. It was not until the seventeenth century that patents were associated
entirely with awards to inventors, when Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies repealed the practice of royal monopoly grants
to all except patentees of inventions.
The British patent system established significant barriers in the form of prohibitively high costs that limited access to
property rights in invention to a privileged few. Patent fees provided an important source of revenues for the Crown and its
employees, and created a class of administrators who had strong incentives to block proposed reforms.
In addition to the monetary costs, complicated administrative procedures that inventors had to follow made transactions
costs also high. Thus nation-wide lobbies of manufacturers and patentees expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the
British patent system. However, it was not until after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that their concerns were finally
addressed, in an effort to meet the burgeoning competition from the United States. In 1852 the efforts of numerous societies
and of individual engineers, inventors and manufacturers that had been made over many decades were finally rewarded.
Parliament approved the Patent Law Amendment Act, which authorized the first major adjustment of the system in two
centuries.

However, the adjustments made at that time were not completely satisfactory. One source of dissatisfaction that endured
until the end of the nineteenth century was the state of the common law regarding patents. British patents were granted "by the
grace of the Crown" and therefore were subject to any restrictions that the government cared to impose. According to the
statutes, as a matter of national expediency, patents were to be granted if "they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to
the State, by raising prices of commodities at home, or to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient." The Crown possessed
the ability to revoke any patents that were deemed inconvenient or contrary to public policy. […]

The Patent System in the United States

The United States stands out as having established one of the most successful patent systems in the world. American
industrial supremacy has frequently been credited to its favorable treatment of inventors and the inducements held out for
inventive activity. The first Article of the U.S. Constitution included a clause to "promote the Progress of Science and the
useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries." Congress complied by passing a patent statute in April 1790. In 1836 the United States created the first modern
patent institution in the world, a system whose features differed in significant respects from those of other major countries.

The primary feature of the "American system" is that all applications are subject to an examination for conformity with
the laws and for novelty. An examination system was set in place in 1790, when a select committee consisting of the Secretary
of State (Thomas Jefferson), the Attorney General and the Secretary of War scrutinized the applications. These duties proved to
be too time-consuming for highly ranked officials who had other onerous duties, so three years later it was replaced by a
registration system. The validity of patents was left up to the district courts, which had the power to set in motion a process that
could end in the repeal of the patent.

Another important feature of the American patent system is that it was based on the presumption that social welfare
coincided with the individual welfare of inventors. Accordingly, legislators rejected restrictions on the rights of American
inventors.

Nevertheless, economists such as Joseph Schumpeter have linked market concentration and innovation, and patent rights
are often felt to encourage the establishment of monopoly enterprises. Thus, an important aspect of the enforcement of patents
and intellectual property in general depends on competition or antitrust policies. The attitudes of the judiciary towards patent
conflicts are primarily shaped by their interpretation of the monopoly aspect of the patent grant. The American judiciary in the
early nineteenth century did not recognize patents as monopolies, arguing that patentees added to social welfare through
innovations which had never existed before, whereas monopolists secured to themselves rights that already belong to the
public.[…]

B. Zorina Khan. In: Internet: (adapted).


According to the information provided by text, judge the items below.

The basis of a system for protecting intellectual inventions was already stated in the U.S. Constitution.

A resposta correta é: