In the 19^th century there was tremendous competition to find successful innovations in business. Industrial development was accelerating, and the number of patents grew apace. Nonetheless, the connection between innovation and what might be described as a real culture of patenting is far from obvious. In a thesis entitled “Course à l'innovation et mécanique des brevets. L'évolution technologique dans l'industrie belge du zinc (1806-1873)”(1), Arnaud Péters, a young Ph.D. in history at the University of Liège (Centre d’Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques), gives an account of the history of the Belgian patent system during the 19th century by means of a case study involving the zinc industry, a study that focuses on the Vieille-Montagne company.

The 19^th century was a key period for technical and entrepreneurial development, and it allows a sharply focused analysis of the history of patents. The Belgian state was founded in 1830, and at that time the country was in the middle of an unprecedented industrial expansion. Technical innovation was a high priority for the state. Between 1830 and 1880, Belgium produced a number of patents per inhabitant that was the highest in the world.

In the first part of his thesis Arnaud Péters discusses the Belgian patent system, and the national structure established for the recognition of intellectual property. How was the Belgian system designed? What were its features? How did it promote innovation?

The Belgian patent system

In the 19^th century, the Belgians went crazy over patents. One explanation of this mania was the absence of any legal restriction on the declaration of a patent. In Belgium as in France all patents were recognized and accepted, which is not the case in all countries. In Germany or in the United States, f.e., patents that do not represent the interests of a local industry, or which do not include enough technical qualities were not accepted.

On Belgian soil, the first complete legislation on patents was French, and dated from 1791. For the first time, rights to property were recognized on behalf of inventors, allowing them to hold a monopoly over the production of their invention for a period of 5, 10 or 15 years. This law provided for three kinds of patents. Firstly, a patent of invention conferred upon the inventor a monopoly on the use of an invention or process that was the creation of the patent holder’s mind. Secondly, in a system in which patents had a national scope of recognition, a patent of importation allowed a patent recognized in one country to be transferred in another. Finally, an improvement patent was based on improvements to the substance of an existing patent. These categories of French origin continued to exist under William of Orange, who wrote a new law in 1817 which did not have to be materially altered until 1854.

In 1854, several significant changes occurred. The failings of the patent law were becoming a problem, and it was apparent that the laws needed to be amended. The new law contained several new things. Patents were now recognized for a (maximum) period of 20 years. The process of obtaining a patent was opened up to more people, and progressivity of cost was introduced. The price of a patent, very low during the first years, increased considerably at the moment when it became profitable for the inventor.

As in the past, no preliminary examination of the matter of a patent was provided for. At a time when industrialization was accelerating and the system was becoming more democratic, obtaining patents became very desirable.

The statute of the “imported” patents was also adapted in order to reward the original patent holder more generously. Previously a foreign patent could be appropriated at will and “imported” to Belgium, even without the consent of the original patent holder. Now the law would make essential that consent. This change in the law caused quite a stir outside Belgium, and in fact the number of imported patents increased considerably after the legislative reform of 1854.

(1) Arnaud Péters, « Course à l'innovation et mécanique des brevets. L'évolution technologique dans l'industrie belge du zinc (1806-1873) », doctoral dissertation, Université de Liège