| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.4

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 167 words from this article are provided below; about 310 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Democratization of Invention: Patents and Copyrights in American Economic Development, 1790–1920. By B. Zorina Khan. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. xviii, 322 pp. $60.00, ISBN 0-521-81135-X.)

The unique prosperity of the United States has been attributed to its extensive land, its many natural resources, and its English heritage. B. Zorina Khan argues here that it is the result of a democratic patent system. The protection of intellectual property was written into the first article of the U.S. Constitution, and the Patent Law of 1836 implemented this directive by creating the Patent Office. United States patents for original inventions could be obtained at modest cost and through a straightforward process. While both England and France had patent systems that antedated the U.S. system, patents in both countries were expensive, bureaucratically difficult, and not reserved for original inventions. Douglass North has argued that patent systems were important for early industrialization; Khan adds that the type of patent system may have been even more important.

. . .

There are about 310 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.