CHAPTER 2. ORIGINS OF U.S. PATENT LAW
1. What is the meaning (translation) of the Latin word “patent”?
2. Which medieval European city-state may be considered the cradle of the patent system? What fundamental fact did their law recognize that became the basis of modern patent systems?
3. What fundamental limitation did the 1624 British “Statutes of Monopolies” introduce for the first time?
4. The first U.S. patent law was enacted in 1790. Who signed this law?
5. Who was responsible for examining the validity of the first U.S. patents?
6. Name the document that is the source of the U.S. patent system?
7. Which government body promulgates patent law?
8. What are the two overriding purposes of the U.S. patent system?
9. Which president signed the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act into law?
10. What is a first-to-invent patent system?
11. What is a first-inventor-to-file patent system? When and why did the United States switch to this system?
12. Give at least one argument against the assertion that a patent is a government-sanctioned monopoly.
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