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The changing function of patents: a reversion to privileges?
- Source :
-
Legal Studies . Dec2017, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p807-837. 31p. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Since its inception, patent law has had many faces, manifesting different aims and functions. The latest recalibrations of the aims and functions of patent law are striking because - at its core - patent law itself has not changed significantly in this time. This paper examines the chameleon-like nature of the function of patents, tracking historical transformations from the privilege as an instrument of trade policy, to patents as an incentive/reward to invent and disclose the invention, and the most recent shift towards viewing patents as necessary for innovation. In particular, the paper addresses whether the latest shift represents a reversion to privilege-like functions, due to the analogous focus on commercialisation, and argues that this is not the case because of the fundamental move to focusing on patentees rather than society as a whole and to seeing patents as property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *PATENTS
*PATENT law
*PATENTS -- History
*PREVENTION of patent infringement
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02613875
- Volume :
- 37
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Legal Studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 126440405
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12176