Commentary
The Supreme Court has been making a lot of controversial decisions lately, but one upcoming decision that could have a great impact on American innovation isn’t getting much press.
The legal basis for U.S. intellectual property (IP) rights is found in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers believed that IP rights were so important that they passed the Patent Act of 1790 even before passing the Bill of Rights a year later. Even before African Americans had freedom, they could obtain patents and profit from their inventions and writings. Before women could vote, they could write articles, pamphlets, and books to influence society and retain the rights to those writings….