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Subject Area: Law
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

§ 129.: Patents and copyrights, how far monopolies.— - Christopher G. Tiedeman, A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, vol. 1 [1900]

Edition used:

A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint (St. Louis: The F.H. Thomas Law Book Co., 1900). Vol. 1.

Part of: A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, 2 vols.

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§ 129.

Patents and copyrights, how far monopolies.—

It is often stated, that the copyright and the patent of an invention are monopolies, which are permissible by law. But it seems to me that they are monopolies only so far as they make the right of manufacture exclusive. If the common-law theory in respect to these subjects be correct, that there is no natural right to the exclusive manufacture of one’s own inventions and intellectual productions, then the grant of the exclusive right to manufacture is a monopoly, and cannot be better sustained than a monopoly of the manufacture of sugar or any other product. But the prodducts of mental labor, when they take the shape of a book or an invented machine, ought to be as secure to the producer, as the products of manual labor, and it is the possibly unconscious recognition of the justice of these claims, which brings about popular justification of these so-called monopolies.