The Venetians started patents in the 1400s, by requiring inventions to be registered with the government. But the system was quite different. For one thing, the government owned the invention, the inventor owned nothing. The government could grant ownership of new inventions to whomever they wished. This was important when, for example, an improvement on a musket was invented and the government wanted to have an arms manufacturer produce this better musket for their army. And no one else’s army.
You know what changed this system? The United States Constitution. Yup, that’s right. It states that “for a limited time…authors and inventors” will have “exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”
This was revolutionary! In more ways than one, because now not only did inventors owned their creations, but patents could run out, so that no one could monopolize a particular market forever. Under the old system, where governments monopolized the market, the patent held until someone stole the invention’s designs for their government!
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