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Exclusive legal rights or privileges applied to inventions, plants, etc.

The Constitution confers upon Congress the power to issue patents for useful inventions. A few patents had been issued by the States. The first patent law, passed in 1790, granted letters patent upon any new invention, for fourteen years, to both citizens and foreigners. Application had to be made to the Secretaries of War, the State and the Navy. The Act of 1793 permitted the issue of patents to citizens only and required a fee of $30. States were not permitted to issue patents. This was decided in the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden in New York. In 1836, the year of the establishment of the patent office, a law was passed requiring a preliminary examination of the novelty and patentability of inventions. Under the Law of 1842 patents were granted for seven years. This term was afterward extended to its present length of seventeen years. Finally by the Act of 1870 patents are to be granted to any person who can prove the newness and desirability of his invention, on payment of the required fee. The number of patents, annually issued, which in 1844 was 502, is now (1894) about 25,000.