Purus Rhoncus Et Lundium - Understanding U.s. Intellectual Property Law

The concept of intellectual property law in the United States is rooted in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which defines patentability as "any new and useful process, invention, or composition of matter or any new and useful application of such process, or any new and useful improvement thereof." This definition has been interpreted by courts to include a wide range of creative works, including music, art, literature, and software.

In 1870, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. that "whether an invention is new or not cannot be determined by a show of the date when it was made; nor can a patent examiner determine whether an invention is new or old by testing the dates of publications." This decision established the principle of "common law patentability," which allows inventors to claim priority for their inventions and protect them from prior publication.

The 20th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1933, expanded the definition of copyright protection by extending it to sound recordings. The amendment also created the Copyright Office to administer federal copyright law.

https://conferences.law.stanford.edu/ipsummerschool2022/2014/01/21/purus-rhoncus-et-lundium-2/