Patent length and the value of inventions in Brazil in the nineteenth Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-416146484aclpKeywords:
Patent law, Inventions, Law efficiencyAbstract
Brazil was one of the first countries to have a patent law and one of the only ones to
grant patent length according to the quality of the invention. This paper analyzes an
unpublished dataset with all the 783 industrial privileges granted under the first Brazilian
patent law between 1830 and 1882. Our results show that inventive activity was linked to
the economic and social structure of the time and that labor scarcity led to the invention
of machines and equipment for the coffee sector. The number of patents only increased
from 1870 and on, when economic conditions improved, showing how little can be
achieved by a patent law in an economically stagnant environment. However, it was
the least expensive mechanism to stimulate inventive activity in Brazil in the XIX century.
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