What Was the Founders' Design for Intellectual Property?

In this Federalist Society America 250 series, experts analyze modern legal and policy debates through the lens of the Founding generation. The Founders gave us the tools to answer many contemporary questions; join us as we explore those answers.

Innovation is at the heart of the American economy, fueled by a patent system that represented a deliberate radical break from the British model. Under English practice, the Crown granted patents as royal favors, monopolies awarded at the sovereign's pleasure, with no requirement of genuine novelty or utility. The Framers rejected this. They believed that intellectual property rights should both reward ingenuity and advance society. By drawing Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 almost verbatim from the South Carolina Constitution, they tied the grant of patents to the mandate to "promote the progress of science and the useful arts."

This system democratized invention, where anyone could apply for a patent, and set the stage for centuries of American innovative dominance. The U.S. model has largely been adopted globally.

As we approach the Semiquincentennial, join our panel to explore the inventive spirit unleashed after the Founding. How did the Constitution break with British common law? Why did the Framers embed IP rights in the Constitution itself rather than the Bill of Rights? What does it mean that the provision passed without recorded controversy? And how healthy are those rights today?

Featuring:

• Prof. Adam Mossoff, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
• Prof. David S. Olson, Associate Professor, Boston College Law School
• Prof. Zvi Rosen, Associate Professor, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law
• (Moderator) Hon. John D. Love, Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
   

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.