Old history of patents

(This article might never collect any info useful for modern debates about software patents, but there are some interesting stories on the web, so we'll see what gathers here...)

External links

• Do Patents Encourage or Hinder Innovation? The Case of the Steam Engine, Dec 2008, Boldrin, Levine, and Nuvolari
• The Seldon Patent: George who? - 19^th century story of patents harming car development
• Wikipedia:
  • History of patent law
  • Statute of Monopolies