Patent system history

Toshiko Takenaka

Chapter 1 in The Law and Theory of Patents, 2026, pp 1-19 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter traces the historical evolution and economic foundations of modern patent systems and shows why many legacy principles no longer align with innovation in the Industry 4.0 era. It begins with the origins of patent protection in Venice, England, and early U.S., German, and Japanese laws, highlighting how concepts such as novelty, disclosure, claiming, and exclusivity emerged within closed innovation models of the 18th–20th centuries. It then contrasts these traditional foundations with the technological and structural shifts brought by digital transformation, cyber‑physical systems, and globalized open innovation. Finally, the chapter proposes a new utilitarian framework suited to Industry 4.0: patents as tools to promote interoperability, technology sharing, and freedom to operate.

Keywords: Patent system history; Industry 4.0 and patent reform; Utilitarian theory; Open innovation; Defensive patenting; Servitization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035310425
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035310432.00006 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22241_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().