The notion of giving talented inventors a limited monopoly for their instructing the rest of their less talented fellow citizens is not new. It is generally accepted that the first systematic patent law was developed in Venice, a hotbed of Renaissance industrial activity. The 1474 Venetian patent statute sums up the economic rationale of patent law pretty nicely

. “we have among us men of great genius, apt to invent and discover ingenious devices, and in view of the grandeur and virtue of our city, more such men come to us every day from diverse parts. Now, if provision were made for the works and devices discovered by such persons, so that others who may see them could not build them and take the inventor’s honour away, more men would then apply their genius, would discover, and build devices of great utility and benefit to our commonwealth.’

A patent is granted by a government that allows inventor to maintain a monopoly on the use and development for a limited time. Patent allow inventors to prevent or exclude other people or companies from manufacturing, selling, or using their patented inventions. Governments grant these exclusive rights in exchange for the clear detailed public disclosure of inventions. This is a bargain between the government and the inventor, in return for the  disclosure of the technique of the invention in a patently obvious terms, the governments lets the inventor  have the sole  exclusive ownership  for a couple of decades, in which time the inventor can exploit and make  profit from their invention, which allows the inventor to further develop their invention though research or just have a competitive edge.

Promoting inventors’ to encourage discovery spread through out Europe into England and US. Where now it is incorporated into the Paris Convention. Talk about the sources of law ect.