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Intellectual Property Rights


HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF PATENT SPECIFICATION

June 1, 2023

* Maanyaa Anand

Patent Specification is a sine non-quo of the law relating to patents as it firmly establishes the quid pro quo between the inventor and the public. It helps to internalize a reign of the capitalistic and minimalistic economy at the same time. “A patent is a special kind of property right, the limited duration for the material version (i.e., a combination of matter) of an idea. The issuance of patent simply means that the language of the patent specifications met whatever standards of patentability were in effect at a given time.” It is one of the most important of the legal genre yet highly under-researched.

A patent specification is that section of an application in which the inventor describes in detail the invention to allow a third party to repeat it after its expiry. Thus, it is a document which in layman's terminology aids the process of public disclosure. The objective of public disclosure is to further the interests of both the inventor and the public as it would socially engineer itself into the fabric of society. William Robinson, a renowned American Jurist stated in 1890 that “A patent is a contract between the inventor and the public, by which the inventor in consideration that the exclusive use of his invention is secured to him for a limited period of time and confer an unrestricted right upon the public to use it after the expiry of that limited period”. Thus, specification is nothing but a contract in which terms and conditions of these mutual considerations were declared. This would result in the development of the nation via means of promotion of innovation and the welfare of the public. Therefore, specifications help to distinguish monopolies and the modern patent system through the requirement of ubiquity.

The history of monopolies is often regarded as having originated in England, yet that country was a latecomer in the practice of exercising exclusive privileges. The term “monopoly” originated, so far as we know, with the Greeks.” The word “μονοπωλίa” was used in 347 B.C. in the Politics of Aristotle as signifying an exclusive sale, being derived from ‘novos’, meaning ‘alone’ and ‘πολειν’ meaning ‘to sell’. Thus, the phrase ‘monopolies are exclusive rights’ is creating an aristocratic air while patent law advocated for an egalitarian society deeply rooted in rights.

The ‘Statute of Monopolies’ seems to be an inspiration for most of the commonwealth nations. A tale of nepotism ensued in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and James I resulting in a game of favourites while granting Royal patent letters. This marked the beginning of a transition from patents being sovereign gifts to patents as rights. The strong opposition created a political crisis in the 1620s, the solution of which came in the form of the Statute of Monopolies, in 1624. But the Statute of Monopolies was preceded by prior history of patent law. The Venetian Patent Statute, established by the Republic of Venice, is the “oldest recorded document that specifies in broad terms a codified patent system. It was Europe’s first statutory patent system. The practice of patent rights predated the writing of this document, but what makes the Venetian Statute historically significant is that it represented the first time that patent customs were codified in a generally applicable, well-defined, and broad manner.”

By reading between the lines of the privileges and considering the spirit of the patent bargain, it can be determined that patent specifications existed as early as the 14th century. For instance, in 1594, when Galileo was granted a 24-year term privilege for a water pump by the Senate of the Republic of Venice, the description of the water pump was included. These descriptions in the granted patents aimed to impart knowledge to the artisan community working under the inventor, enabling them to learn the craft and eventually leverage it to their advantage once the apprenticeship expired. Consequently, it was the former working requirements of privileges that possessed the nature of the patent specification.

Subsequently, the US Patent Act of 1790 and the French Patent Law of 1791 included the explicit mention of specifications. Patent specifications were not just an attempt at standardization of patents but an effort to create a balance between political economy and law as they made the contract between the inventor and public “defensible”.

Freedom, although antithetical to chaos, is tightly woven into its fabric. This can be reinforced through the requirement outlined in the 1790 Patent Act of the US, stating that an invention would become void if "the true description is not provided". This enactment asked the inventor for a pictorial and textual description of a possible device which marked a departure from the ancient practice of production of an actual device. In addition to public disclosure, it also provided for geographical expansion.
Consequently, the law pertaining to patent specification helps to uphold the economic theories of Intellectual Property Rights like incentive theory, reward theory and social welfare theory as it dealt with the social bargain which produced its costs and incentives both on inventor and consumers. The essence of a legal concept can be simplified to the lowest common denominator, as highlighted by Hothfield. Patent law follows this pattern and is no exception. It grants protection to inventors, resulting in a "limited monopoly" instead of public disclosure. This arrangement can be reduced to the jural correlative of right and duty.

This provided the base for the Indian Patent Law which is a cherished child of the Britishers. Thus, the law of patent specification is as old as the history of patents itself and its traces lie in British, American and European sensibilities which helped to ensure the promotion of protection of Patents.

References:
  1. Reingold, Nathan, U. S. Patent Office Records as Sources for the History of Invention and Technological Property, 1 Tech & Culture 156, 160 (1960).
  2. Mario Biagoli, Making and Unmaking of Intellectual Property, University of Chicago 25, 26 (2011).
  3. Fox, Harold G, Monopolies and Patents: A Study of the History and Future of the Patent Monopoly, Uni of Toronto Press, 1947, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1vgw4jd
  4. Chris Dent, ‘Generally Inconvenient’: The 1624 Statute of Monopolies as Political Compromise, 33 Melbourne Uni Law Rev, (2010).
  5. Cad Crowd, A Brief History of Patents: Patent Law Past and Present, Cad Crowd Blog (May 29, 2023, 16:40 PM) https://www.cadcrowd.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-patents-patent-law-past-and-present/.
  6. US Patent Act, 1970.
  7. Act VI of 1856; Act XV of 1859; Patterns & Design Act,1872; Protection of Inventions Act, 1883.
Author:

* Ms. Maanyaa Anand
Bachelors of Law,
Christ Academy Institute of Law, Bengaluru.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of the Alliance Centre for Intellectual Property Rights(ACIPR) and the Centre does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.