Why do patents and copyrights have such different terms? History is
only part of the story. And it is interesting that patents and
copyrights started out being more similar in length than they are today.
The Statute of Anne provided authors with exclusive rights for 14 years
(a period that for a very long time was the patent duration). Patent
rights are shorter today than copyrights because of the social utility
of having more competition sooner in the production of functional items
than with literary and artistic works. Copyrights also have (at least
theoretically) a thin scope of protection so that others can develop
competing works as long as they express the same ideas differently.
Some years ago the Journal of the Patent Office Society published a
very nice essay on why there is a 17 year patent; you might find
additional information on the patent duration there.
Pam Samuelson
University of Pittsburgh Law School
Received on Tue Mar 01 1994 - 20:39:52 GMT
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