Book contents
- American Patent Law
- American Patent Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Founding Era Patent Law, 1790–1820
- 3 The Jacksonian Era and Early Industrialization, 1820–1880
- 4 Corporatization, 1880–1920
- 5 1921–1982: Patents In and Out of the Headlines
- 6 The Federal Circuit Era
- 7 In Conclusion
- Index
7 - In Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2023
- American Patent Law
- American Patent Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Founding Era Patent Law, 1790–1820
- 3 The Jacksonian Era and Early Industrialization, 1820–1880
- 4 Corporatization, 1880–1920
- 5 1921–1982: Patents In and Out of the Headlines
- 6 The Federal Circuit Era
- 7 In Conclusion
- Index
Summary
Patents figure into all sorts of business arrangements. Businesspeople have used patents as a scaffolding around which a business can be built. From the earliest days, patents funneled investment into technology-centered enterprises. But soon after, businesspeople began subdividing patent rights along two dimensions. Patents served as a way to divide up ownership shares in flexible and customizable fractions. They were also subdivided by geography: A partial patent assignment can be used to confer exclusive rights to a new owner in a particular region, state, or city. In this way, patents anchored a network of exclusive regional franchises.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- American Patent LawA Business and Economic History, pp. 476 - 496Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023