Creative Commons, OERs and Beyond

Patents

Patents are a form of intellectual property protection designed to protect inventions.  They grant the patent holder the sole right to make, use, and sell the invention for a set period of time. 

The U.S. Constitution in Article 1 Section 8 gives Congress the authority to enact patent legislation.  The first patent law was enacted on April 110,1790.  The U. S. Patent Office, which is now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was created by Congress in 1836, for the purpose of establishing the basic principles of American patent law.  Two major revisions of U.S. Patent law occurred in 1870 and 1952.

Links to documents related to Patents. 

A sampling of the many articles that have been published related to Patents, 
that are currently available through the Cairn University Library.

A sampling of the many ebooks that have been published related to Fair Use, 
that are currently available through the Cairn University Library.