This subject is not directly connected with the usuaI subject matter of this magazine, inasmuch as it is directly related neither to perfumery developments nor to their promotion. However, these aspects may be viewed as representing the cause and the effect of the action of obtaining a patent. The purpose of this article is to present a few considerations on the role of patents in relation to perfumers’ activity.
Patents are legal mechanisms by means of which inventors, or their employers or assignees, can protect the investment in time, money, effort and other resources expended to create a new contribution to technology. Patent laws are thus special chapters of property laws. As such, they extend their full effect in those countries where private property is recognized.
The beneficial social role of the patent system in the present phenomenal development of technological innovations in industrial nations is a fact challenged by few. In reality, most of the current criticisms appear to be directed against the manner in which the law is applied more than against the general philosphy of the system itself.
