Protection for domestic IP is statutory in nature—only the legislature has the power
Welch 92, B.S. with Special Honors (Chemistry), The University of Texas at Austin, 1988; J.D., The University of Texas at Austin (expected) 1994; M.B.A. (Information Systems), The University of Texas at Austin (expected) 1994. (Marshall J., Winter 1992, NOTE: INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, 1 Tex. Intell. Prop. L.J. 41, 42-43. Lexis accessed online via KU Libraries)
Currently, domestic protection for intellectual property is provided primarily through federal statutory law. For example, the legislative power to create patent law is derived from the Constitution, which permits Congress "to promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." 10 Although this section does not explicitly grant power to protect trademarks, power to do so has been derived from the Commerce clause 11 empowering Congress to regulate interstate commerce, culminating in the current federal trademark statute, the Lanham Act. 12 The Patent Act, 13 founded in the [*43] purposeful language of the Constitutional framers, is not limited by the scope of interstate commerce. The Copyright Act of 1976 14 constitutes the primary statutory basis for the law of copyright, which, in general, grants exclusive rights to the copyrighted work for the life of the author plus 50 years. This body of law currently provides the most important basis for protection of computer software, 15 an important new export from the United States.