Historical aspects of patent systems

New technologies arising from inventions and developments have characterized every known civilization since antiquity. The concept of invention per se, however, evolved slowly, from the granting of franchises in ancient Greece to the granting of monopolies by Florence and Venice in the 15th century. Patent systems as we know them today arose from the laws of England, France, Germany, and the United States from the 15th to the 18th century and from the more definitive laws of the 19th century. The past decade has been marked by the introduction of an international classification system and the concept of an international patent system.