James Madison is credited with introducing the Patent and Copyright Clause to the Constitution, and defended that clause in Federalist 43, stating “[t]he utility of this power will scarcely be questioned.” But he was well aware that there were dangers to the power, writing in his own papers that the patent monopoly could produce more…
Tag Archive for Founders on patents
Founders On Patents: Jefferson On A Farm Patent
by Josh Landau •
Last week, I covered a newly digitized letter from John Q. Adams, describing the concern the PTO’s first Commissioner had regarding whether the patents he was issuing were really valid and the harms that those invalid patents were causing. Along those lines, let’s see what another Founding Father—Thomas Jefferson—had to say about a patent on…