Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
- The Cambridge Handbook of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- About the Contributors
- Foreword
- Prolusion: What Is Intellectual Property (And Why Should You Care About It Anyway?) – A Layperson’s Guide to Intellectual Property Law
- Introduction: Intellectual Property Social Justice Theory: History, Development, and Description
- Part I IP Social Justice Foundations
- Part II IP Social Justice in Major Intellectual Property Domains
- Part III IP Social Justice: Historical Perspectives
- 9 Copyright, Music, and Race: The Case of Mirror Cover Recordings
- 10 They Knew It All Along: Patents, Social Justice, and Fights for Civil Rights
- 11 Copyright’s Promise of Dignity in the 19th Century
- Part IV IP Social Justice in the Political Economy: Engaging Activism; Achieving Change
- Part V IP Social Justice in the Information Age
- Part VI Intellectual Property Social Justice in Global Perspective: Issues in Gender and Development Disparity
- Part VII IP Social Justice: The Future of the Global IP Ecosystem
10 - They Knew It All Along: Patents, Social Justice, and Fights for Civil Rights
from Part III - IP Social Justice: Historical Perspectives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2024
- The Cambridge Handbook of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
- The Cambridge Handbook of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- About the Contributors
- Foreword
- Prolusion: What Is Intellectual Property (And Why Should You Care About It Anyway?) – A Layperson’s Guide to Intellectual Property Law
- Introduction: Intellectual Property Social Justice Theory: History, Development, and Description
- Part I IP Social Justice Foundations
- Part II IP Social Justice in Major Intellectual Property Domains
- Part III IP Social Justice: Historical Perspectives
- 9 Copyright, Music, and Race: The Case of Mirror Cover Recordings
- 10 They Knew It All Along: Patents, Social Justice, and Fights for Civil Rights
- 11 Copyright’s Promise of Dignity in the 19th Century
- Part IV IP Social Justice in the Political Economy: Engaging Activism; Achieving Change
- Part V IP Social Justice in the Information Age
- Part VI Intellectual Property Social Justice in Global Perspective: Issues in Gender and Development Disparity
- Part VII IP Social Justice: The Future of the Global IP Ecosystem
Summary
Inventors have always approached the United States Patent Office hoping for financial reward.1 As Abraham Lincoln, himself a patentee, explained, the United States patent system is designed to add the “fuel of interest to the fire of genius.”2 Starting with the Patent Act of 1790, Congress offered “fuel” in the form of an opportunity to put dollars in one’s pocket by commercializing exclusive rights to an invention.3 While many inventor-patentees, including Lincoln, failed to earn anything from their patents, the legislative intention was to keep the fires of genius burning in the American population in order to generate what the United States Supreme Court has called “a positive effect on society.”4
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024