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.[1] IP is protected by patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret.
Background
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.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5]