Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Patents were included in the constitution to give incentive to inventors.
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No, patents were included in the Constitution in order to preempt then-existing state patent laws, which were all over the map (har, har). Considering that previously patents were governed by royally granted monopolies even outside the invention arena, patents were understood, then and now, to be a perfect example of sovereign giveth, and sovereign taketh away. If the policy no longer works or impedes trade and invention, Congress changes the patent laws (in theory; modern lobbying has made this all but impossible).
I don't think you were saying patents are underpinned by some sort of constitutional policy one way or another, but I think we should be clear. It's just an extension of the Commerce Clause, not a constitutional right or constitutional policy value.
