Beschreibung:

THE ARTHUR SEIDEL COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL PATENT DOCUMENTS The Arthur Seidel Collection of Original Patent Documents comprises lots 528-543. This unique collection, carefully assembled over many years, will first be offered as a single lot, subject to a reserve price. In the event this price is not reached, the collection will be offered as individual lots 528 to 543. The idea of intellectual property developed as early as the 15th century, and was systematized in England by the 18th century. Not surprisingly, American patent law was closely modeled on English practice. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the Constitution conferred on Congress the power to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Thomas Jefferson who took considerable interest in inventions and innovations, helped draft the Patent Act of 1790, which accorded 14 years protection to new inventions and processes. Another Patent Act, passed in 1793, created a patent board consisting of the Secretary of State, Secretary of War and Attorney General, who were to study, evaluate and approve applications. In the decades after 1790, the increasing number of applications soon made the board system impractical and unworkable. Finally, in 1836 Congress created a separate Patent Office, with a commissioner and a technical staff and ended the signing of patents by the President. The Seidel Collection, assembled over many years, contains a fine series of early presidential-signed patents. Over the last decade, these documents have become increasingly hard to find, and such a collection could probably not be formed today. (16)