IPcentral Academic Advisory Council member, Professor Adam Mossoff, has released research on the underpinnings of American patent policy. Amy Smorodin summarizes the paper-

Critics who claim that patents have always been special legal privileges are misguided...Mossoff explains that some legal scholars misinterpret the use of the term "privilege" as it was used in early years of the American Republic. The term referred to what we now call a civil right and was justified by natural rights philosophy. This explains why early American legislators and judges expanded and extended the property rights in patents.
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[Mossoff] concludes, "Modern developments in patent and copyright law may be criticized on the basis of policy concerns, such as emphasizing monopoly costs or championing the value of the public domain, but invocations of an incorrect historical claim cannot serve as a proxy for such arguments."