nep-ipr 2025-04-21 papers

on Intellectual Property Rights

Issue of 2025–04–21
two papers chosen by
Giovanni Battista Ramello, Università di Turino

Patently peculiar: Patents and innovation in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands By Wagenaar, Homer; Colvin, Christopher L.
The patent system of the Netherlands in a Belgian mirror, 1817-1869 By Wagenaar, Homer

Patently peculiar: Patents and innovation in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands

By:	Wagenaar, Homer; Colvin, Christopher L.
Abstract:	We examine the accessibility and functioning of the patent system in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a state that existed between 1815 and 1830. The country's patent law combined an examination process with significant government discretion over a patent's duration and cost. Using our hand-collected database of all patent applications-granted, withdrawn, and rejected-we analyse the determinants of success, and the conditions imposed on applicants by the system's administrators. We find that discretion optimised patent terms rather than causing bias. The system was accessible despite high fees. Our analysis suggests that social class, skills, and market orientation drove the demand for patents. Our research contributes to understanding the history of European patent institutions by adding high-quality patent data for the second economy in the world to experience an Industrial Revolution.
Keywords:	patents, innovation, industrialisation, discretion, Low Countries
JEL:	L51 N44 N74 O31 O34
Date:	2025
URL:	https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:315206

The patent system of the Netherlands in a Belgian mirror, 1817-1869

By:	Wagenaar, Homer
Abstract:	This paper is an institutional study of the patent systems of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and its successor states Belgium and the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. The patent law of 1817 gave the state wide discretion to accept or refuse patents and to customise their duration, fees, and terms on a case-by-case basis. Through an indepth reconstruction of the patent system's administrative process, I demonstrate (1) how this system developed informal rules of procedure in its initial years, and (2) how the law after Belgium's independence from 1830 fared differently in each successor state. While in Belgium the patent system became widely used and increasingly codified, culminating in an 1850s reform, in the Netherlands the neglect of the patent system led in 1869 to its abolition.
Keywords:	institutions, patents, economic history, nineteenth century, industrial revolution, the Netherlands, Belgium
JEL:	K22 L43 N43 O31 O34
Date:	2025
URL:	https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:315205

This nep-ipr issue is ©2025 by Giovanni Battista Ramello. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.

General information on the NEP project can be found at https://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.

NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.