Jacob, R; (2012) Is Intellectual Property the Grit in the Wheels Of Industry? UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence , 1 (2) pp. 1-14. 10.14324/111.2052-1871.044.

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Abstract

I begin with three stories from the past and a speech in a House of Lords debate in 1841. Filippo Brunelleschi was the first person in Europe to be granted a patent for an invention. He was the genius who designed and constructed the great dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence's cathedral. The city fathers gave out the architectural work by a series of competitive tenders. When he tendered Brunelleschi was fearful that others would steal his ideas and get the work. So he generally tendered without saying how the job was going to be done. For instance, he was frightened about disclosing how he was going to raise the many tonnes of stone needed to create the great dome. It nearly cost him the work. By and large he was lucky in that, although he never explained how he was going to do a thing, he got the job anyway. But late in the project he was so concerned about piracy that he procured from the city fathers a patent, granted in 1421.

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