President James Madison wrote in Federalist no 10:
“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the RIGHTS OF PROPERTY originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the FIRST object of government.”
Further, when commenting in Federalist No. 43 on the proposed Constitutional recognition of invention rights, President Madison wrote “The utility of the clause will scarcely be questioned. The copyright of authors has been solemnly adjudged, in Great Britain, to be a RIGHT of common law. The right to useful inventions seems with equal reason to belong to the inventors. The public good fully coincides in both cases with the claims of the individuals.”
Therefore, not only was the protection of property an important aim of government, but the protection of ‘faculties of men’, such as the product of their mental labors or inventions, was in Madison’s words “the first object of government”. What more can be said as to the fundamental rights of inventors to their “discoveries” as recited in our Constitution. Unquestionably then, invention property rights are not privileges granted by government, but rather the inalienable property rights of inventors.
Not only is the protection of our ‘mental faculties’ such as inventions the principal object of government in general, but specifically it was a chief argument in favor of the very federal government who was and is entrusted with protecting them.
From Federalist #1:
“I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars: — The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity — The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union — The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attainment of this object — The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican government — Its analogy to your own state constitution — and lastly, The additional security which its ADOPTION will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property.”
Yet in spite of the above it is now too hard, expensive and lengthy for inventors and small entities to obtain patents for and enforce rights to their inventions.
For our position and the changes we advocate to truly reform the patent system, or to join our effort, please visit us at https://aminventorsforjustice.wordpress.com/category/our-position/
or, contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org