| Line | Because the framers of the United States |
| | Constitution (written in 1787) believed that protecting |
| | property rights relating to inventions would encourage |
| | the new nations economic growth, they gave |
| (5) | Congress—the national legislature—a constitutional |
| | mandate to grant patents for inventions. The resulting |
| | patent system has served as a model for those in |
| | other nations. Recently, however, scholars have |
| | questioned whether the American system helped |
| (10) | achieve the framers goals. These scholars have |
| | contended that from 1794 to roughly 1830, American |
| | inventors were unable to enforce property rights |
| | because judges were antipatent and routinely |
| | invalidated patents for arbitrary reasons. This |
| (15) | argument is based partly on examination of court |
| | decisions in cases where patent holders (patentees) |
| | brought suit alleging infringement of their patent |
| | rights. In the 1820s, for instance, 75 percent |
| | of verdicts were decided against the patentee. |
| (20) | The proportion of verdicts for the patentee began to |
| | increase in the 1830s, suggesting to these scholars |
| | that judicial attitudes toward patent rights began |
| | shifting then. |
| | Not all patent disputes in the early nineteenth |
| (25) | century were litigated, however, and litigated |
| | cases were not drawn randomly from the |
| | population of disputes. Therefore the rate of |
| | verdicts in favor of patentees cannot be used |
| | by itself to gauge changes in judicial attitudes |
| (30) | or enforceability of patent rights. If early judicial |
| | decisions were prejudiced against patentees, one |
| | might expect that subsequent courts—allegedly |
| | more supportive of patent rights—would reject |
| | the former legal precedents. But pre-1830 |
| (35) | cases have been cited as frequently as later |
| | decisions, and they continue to be cited today, |
| | suggesting that the early decisions, many of |
| | which clearly declared that patent rights were |
| | a just recompense for inventive ingenuity, |
| (40) | provided a lasting foundation for patent law. |
| | The proportion of judicial decisions in favor of |
| | patentees began to increase during the 1830s |
| | because of a change in the underlying population |
| | of cases brought to trial. This change was partly |
| (45) | due to an 1836 revision to the patent system: |
| | an examination procedure, still in use today, was |
| | instituted in which each application is scrutinized |
| | for its adherence to patent law. Previously, |
| | patents were automatically granted upon payment |
| (50) | of a $30 fee. |