Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property (IP) as defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is anything created by the mind such as inventions,literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images, and designs that are commercially used. It is divided into two categories: Industrial Property which include industrial designs, inventions etc., and Copyright which include literary and artistic creations such novels, poems, plays, music and drawings. IP is protected by patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret.

History of Intellectual Property

The Ancient Greece

The beginnings of intellectual property can be traced back in the Ancient Greece around 500 B.C.E. The chefs in the Greek colony of Sybarias were the first holders of year-long monopolies in creating a particular recipe. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy cited the accounts written in American Patent and Copyright Law by Bruce Bugbee in 1967 that the first violation of intellectual property during the ancient times was revealed by Vitruvius (257-180 B.C.E.), a judge in a literary contest in Alexandria.He exposed false poets who used the words and phrases of others and they were tried, convicted and disgraced.

The Roman Period

During the Roman period, Fidentinus was caught reciting the words or Martial without citing his source. Although punishments were enforced to those individuals who use the words of others during the Ancient Greece or Roman times, there is no recorded Roman Law written for the protection of Intellectual Property.

The Florentine Republic

During the birth of the Florentine Republic, historical accounts revealed that franchise, privileges and royal favors were granted to individuals for their works and inventions. According to Bugbee, the Florentine Republic issued the first statutes protecting the rights of authors and inventors of products from their intellectual creations on June 14, 1921 to a famous architect named Filippo Brunelleschi.The Florentine Patent Statute of 1421 became the basis of the first lasting intellectual property institution written in the Venetian Republic statute of 1474 which was established 150 years prior to England's Statute of Monopolies.

According to the Frank D. Prager, author of the Journal of the Patent office Society 26 (11), the first person who received the first actual Patent of Monopoly in Venice was John of Speyer, A German printer.He was given the exclusive right to print without opposition based on customary law and it was later confirmed with a written pronouncement by means of statute of administrative Decree. During this period, inventions were officially evaluated and examined by experts before patent is granted. Two recorded copyright and patent were enforced in Venice. Copyrights were also granted in Venice around 1500's for new and old books. However, commerce in Venice declined and the development of copyright was subdued by Church and State Censorship.

The Statute of Monopolies

Based on historical accounts, the first law enacted for the protection of Intellectual Property was English Statute of Monopolies of 1623, which serves as the original basis of Anglo-American Patent Law. The statute defined inventions as new and patents are granted for a limited time of 14 years and ended the granting of rights to ideas or works the are not original and are already being used by the general public.

Statute of Anne

According to Historians, the first modern copyrights law was enacted April 10, 1710 known as Statute of Anne (Anno Octavo,Annae Reginae), "an act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned." The law grants an individual 120 of copyright and his Assignee or Assigns are given the right to renew to print or reprint the book for another fourteen years. Part of the Statute reads...

Whereas Printers, Booksellers, and other Persons, have of late frequently taken the Liberty of Printing, Reprinting,and Publishing, or causing to be Printed, Reprinted, and Published Books,and other Writings, without the Con-sent of the Authors or Proprietors ofsuch Books and Writings, to their very great Detriment, and too often to the Ruin of them and their Fami-lies: For Preventing therefore such Practices for the future, and for the Encouragement of Learned Men to Compose and Write use-ful Books; May it please Your Majesty, that it may be Enacted, and be it Enacted by the Queens most Excellent Majesty,...(Statute of Anne 1710, Great Britain)