The Future of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is an area born hand in hand with technology. The first patent law, the Venetian Statute of 1474, available here, established a monopoly to protect certain types of industries and knowledge. In this case, the regulation's objective was to promote the textile industry in Venice. This trading city had been severely affected by the Ottomans' blockade of trade routes to the East. For this reason, the city-state rulers sought to incentivize the industry. Subsequently, the UK Monopolies Statute, available here, excluded invention patents from the monopoly prohibition. Again, the underlying reason was the promotion of local industry.

Likewise, copyright law was born out of the need to protect the publishing industry. It is known that before the invention of Gutenberg's movable type printing press, the most widespread way of making copies of documents was through the patient work of monks. Monks painstakingly copied texts by hand. For this reason, there was no well-founded fear of massive unauthorized copying. However, Gutenberg's printing press allowed for copying books on an industrial scale. Therefore, the protection of the rights of publishers became a priority. This need gave rise to the Queen Anne Statute of 1710. This regulation is considered the first modern intellectual property law (copyright law).

We are facing technological changes that challenge the traditional logic of intellectual property. Key aspects such as authorship and inventorship will likely face profound changes. Similarly, until recently, there was no doubt about protecting inventive results. However, generative artificial intelligence may soon produce new but unoriginal works.

From the patent law perspective, it is necessary to point out that the ability to generate new inventions will grow exponentially shortly. Perhaps, in the short term, human intervention cannot be replaced, but new tools such as quantum computers will allow for an exponential growth in the number of inventions.

The growth of new inventions is not new; we have witnessed an increase in the number of patents filed annually since the beginning of the century. Currently, more than 3 million patents are filed annually. Many call this phenomenon patent inflation. However, with the application of new technologies, the pace of this increase can accelerate.

In conclusion, intellectual property rights must adapt to this new reality or disappear. Perhaps protection cannot be extended to everything, or perhaps it can.