Judicial Branch of United States Courts 20

Over the past 20 years, the overall number of intellectual property cases filed in the U.S. courts has increased dramatically. However, after sharp increases in the early 2010s, patent infringement case filings now have started to fall, copyright case filings have fluctuated, and trademark case filings have held steady. Most intellectual property cases are concentrated in a handful of states.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution believed that codifying intellectual property (IP) rights at the federal level was important to economic independence, innovation, and domestic growth. IP rights were established in the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 8, which declares that Congress has the power “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” This ”IP Clause”1 text has been attributed to James Madison and James Pinckney, who both submitted proposals related to IP rights at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. The IP Clause was approved unanimously by the delegates without debate.2 George Washington also was a proponent of establishing IP rights at the federal level, which he considered necessary for the country to achieve economic independence.3

Others disagreed, warning that excessive legal protections could result in a monopoly of ideas that hindered innovation in the public sphere. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin never sought patents for their inventions and saw their creations as gifts to the public. Madison, however, pushed for stronger protections for the inventor. The Patent Act of 1790, the first intellectual property statute passed by the federal government, was a compromise between the two positions.4 Although Jefferson warned against excessive IP rights, as secretary of state he headed a Patent Commission review board and personally tested patent submissions.5 6 Later, the patent examination system was replaced by a registration system that reduced the waiting times for processing applications and left questions of patent validity and enforcement to the courts.7