イングランドでは、請願し、承認された発明者らに対し、君主により開封特許状の形式で裁可が賦与された。1331年にジョン・ケンペと彼の会社に対して賦与された裁可は、イングランドの産業にとある新しい産業を知らせるという公然たる目的を持ってなされた国王の裁可の、最も早く法的に認められた例である[4][5]。これらの開封特許状は受領者に特定の商品の製造あるいは特定のサービスの提供に対する独占を与えた。他にも1449年にヘンリー6世が開封特許状によりフラマン人John of Utynam[訳語疑問点]に彼の発明に対し20年間の独占を認めた例がある[5]。
アメリカ合衆国で最初に成立した特許法は、1790年4月10日に成立した「An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts」である[21]。そして、アメリカ合衆国における最初の特許は1790年7月31日にサミュエル・ホプキンスによる炭酸カリウムの製造法に認められたものである。
^Helmut Schippel: Die Anfänge des Erfinderschutzes in Venedig, in: Uta Lindgren (Hrsg.): Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation, 4. Aufl., Berlin 2001, S.539-550 ISBN 3-7861-1748-9
^Anthon, Charles (1841). A Classical Dictionary: Containing An Account of the Principal Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors, And Intended To Elucidate All The Important Points Connected With The Geography, History, Biography, Mythology, And Fine Arts Of The Greeks And Romans Together With An Account Of Coins, Weights, And Measures, With Tabular Values Of The Same. Harper & Bros. p. 1273
^Phylarchus of Naucratis, "The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenaus", Translated from Ancient Greek by H.Bohn 12:20, p.835
^J R Jones, ed (1934) (English). Terrell on Patents (8 ed.). London: Sweet & Maxwell
^ abHulme, E. Wyndham (1896). “The History of the Patent System under the Prerogative and at Common Law”. Law Quarterly Review (Sweet & Maxwell) 46: 141-154.
^Terence, Kealey (1996) (English). The Economic Laws of Scientific Research. St. Martin's Press. ISBN0-312-17306-7
^Gregory A., Stobbs (2000) (English). Software Patents (2 ed.). Aspen Publishers. p. 3. ISBN0-7355-1499-2
^Christine MacLeod, Inventing the Industrial Revolution: The English Patent System, 1660-1800, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-89399-2, ISBN 978-0-521-89399-2, page 11.
^Frank D. Prager, “Proposals for the Patent Act of 1790", Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society, March 1954, vol XXXVI, No. 3, pp 157 et Seq. において J. Isore in Revue Historique de Droit Francais, 1937 pp. 117 et Seq を引用
^“Avalon Project - Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the Second - Chapter the Twenty-First : Of Alienation by Matter of Record”. 2016年10月9日閲覧。 “THE king's grants are alſo matter of public record. For, as St. Germyn ſays, the king's excellency is ſo high in the law, that no freehold may be given to the king, nor derived from him, but by matter of record. And to this end a variety of offices are erected, communicating in a regular ſubordination one with another, through which all the king's grants muſt paſs, and be tranſcribed, and enrolled; that the ſame may by narrowly inſpected by his officers, who will inform him if any thing contained therein is improper, or unlawful to be granted. Theſe grants, whether of lands, honours, liberties, franchiſes, or ought beſides, are contained in charters, or letters patent, that is, open letters, literae patentes: ſo called becauſe they are not ſealed up, but expoſed to open view, with the great ſeal pendant at the bottom; and are uſually directed or addreſſed by the king to all his ſubjects at large. And therein they differ from certain other letters of the king, ſealed alſo with his great ſeal, but directed to particular perſons, and for particular purpoſes: which therefore, not being proper for public inſpection, are cloſed up and ſealed on the outſide, and are thereupon called writs cloſe, literae clauſae; and are recorded in the cloſe-rolls, in the ſame manner as the others are in the patent-rolls...”
^James W. Cortada, "Rise of the knowledge worker, Volume 8 of Resources for the knowledge-based economy", Knowledge Reader Series, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998, p. 141, ISBN 0-7506-7058-4, ISBN 978-0-7506-7058-6.
^Online at Library of Congress: "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875": First Congress, Session II, chapter VII, 1790: "An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts".
^ abAdrian, Johns (2009) (英語). Piracy. The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates. The University of Chicago Press. p. 247. ISBN978-0-226-40118-8
^Johns, Adrian 前掲書 p. 273 において W.R. Grove: Suggestions for Improvements in the Administration of the Patent Law, The Jurist n.s. 6 (January 28, 1860) 19-25 (online copy at Google Books) および B. Sherman, L. Bently: The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law (CUP 1999), 50-56 を引用
^Gabriel Galvez-Behar, La Republique des inventeurs. Propriete et organisation de l'innovation en France, 1791-1922, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2008, ISBN 2-7535-0695-7, ISBN 978-2-7535-0695-4.
参考文献
Kenneth W. Dobyns, The Patent Office Pony; A History of the Early Patent Office, Sergeant Kirkland's Press 1994. [1]
Howard B. Rockman, Intellectual Property law for Engineers and Scientists.
Bugbee, Bruce W. Genesis of American Patent and Copyright Law. Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press (1967).
Christine MacLeod, Inventing the Industrial Revolution: The English patent system, 1660-1800, Cambridge University Press.