Why Patents Exist with Professor Adam Mossoff

6/27/2023

Why do patents exist in the first place? What function do they serve in society? And what is their historic origin story? In this month’s episode, with the help of Professor Adam Mossoff, we zoom way out, turn the time dial back a bit, and focus on the genesis of patents.

Democratizing the Bridge to Innovation

There’s a special kind of magic that happens when individual incentives align with societal good. Abraham Lincoln, who believed that the creation of the patent system was only surpassed by the discovery of America and the invention of the printing press in terms of the three greatest advancements in human history, once said, “The Patent System added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things”.

The recognition and protection of mental labor and the fruits of the mind as natural property rights enabled any inventor – big or small – to profit from their discoveries and partner with those possessing the resources necessary to scale and bring new products and services to the marketplace. The exchange of this protection for an enabling public disclosure enhanced society and accelerated the pace of innovation by facilitating the open exchange of information and created the greatest free library of science and technological information in the world. And because the economy grows and society flourishes when innovation is encouraged, the world was transformed in the 19th and 20th centuries as demonstrated by the scientific and technological revolutions that define our modern society and by virtue, created the greatest hockey stick graph in history.

Seeking the Cure for Societal Amnesia

But somewhere along the way, we lost sight of this. Patents became a victim of their own success. Their impact on society, the economy, and innovation became both ubiquitous and too often unseen at the same time. This episode is the start of our effort to help undo this collective societal amnesia about the significance of patents as the primary driver in society for encouraging innovation, promoting public disclosure, facilitating technology transfer, and stimulating economic growth.

Episode Overview

CliffsNotes Patent History, from conceptual origins in Ancient Greece through the pre-revolutionary English system and the origin of the word “patent”, itself.
The U.S. Patent System, its democratization of invention, and its significant break from its predecessors, championed and breathed into existence by the collective wisdom of the likes of George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson.
Embedded in Democracy. The prominent role patents played in the Federalist Papers, the Constitution, the first ever State of the Union Address, and as the third ever act of the first Congress – and how loudly this signals the undeniably inextricable link between the Founders’ notions of the core principles of democracy and the societal good that comes from innovation and intellectual property protection.
Innovation Bridge or Blockade? How the differences in the U.S. system played out internationally across the Industrial, chemical, pharma, biotech, computer, and mobile revolutions.
Trolling the Founders. How the fundamental virtues that made the U.S. system unique and proved successful over its history have now tragically become the primary attack vectors used by its opponents.

Our Guest: Professor Adam Mossoff

Professor Adam Mossoff is a Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason, where he teaches a wide range of courses, including property, patent law, trade secrets, trademark law, remedies, and internet law. Adam is an expert on patent law and innovation policy. He has been invited five times to testify before Congress on legislation addressing patent law and innovation policy, and his research has been relied on by the Supreme Court, by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and by federal agencies. His writings on IP law have also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the New York Times.

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