Trade Secrets

by Doron S. Ben-Atar

During the first decades of America's existence as a nation, private citizens, voluntary associations, and government officials encouraged the smuggling of European inventions and artisans to the New World. At the same time, the young republic was developing policies that set new standards for protecting industrial innovations. This book traces the evolution of America's contradictory approach to intellectual property rights from the colonial period to the age of Jackson. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Britain shared technological innovations selectively with its American colonies. It became less willing to do so once America's fledgling industries grew more competitive. After the Revolution, the leaders of the republic supported the piracy of European technology in order to promote the economic strength and political independence of the new nation. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the United States became a leader among industrializing nations and a major exporter of technology. It erased from national memory its years of piracy and became the world's foremost advocate of international laws regulating intellectual property.

Genres: History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 11, 2004

Reviews

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this study of the birth of American industrialism out of exciting-sounding old-school industrial espionage is fascinating in its own right, it only really falls flat when it comes to its apparent thesis. Sure, the early republic "sanctioned" emigration of technical specialists when it suited the cause of American development, but this is little different than job fairs and cash-stuffed recruiters trying to woo away employees from firm A to firm B. Despite the efforts of Hamilton and others to make intellectual piracy policy, Ben-Atar firmly concludes that the dalliance with this was fleeting.
That aside, it's a swell read. Most of the book is concerned with the development of patent law, intellectual rights across borders and, of course, how the early US seduced and wooed entrepreneurs and inventors across the seas to buttress it's sad-sack state of industrial development. Probably not as rigorous and romantic as it might lend itself to be, it's a nice look at the early legal niceties of the US.

[Ramon Girona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro muy interesante que documenta el auge tecnológico y económico de los EEUU en sus primeros años y que se basaba en el pirateo de creaciones técnica e intelectuales británicas en su mayoría. Sin embargo incurre en redundancias y el desarrollo del libro es un poco complejo con avances y retrocesos cronológicos que despistan y no están al servicio de la narración. En todo caso presenta ejemplos interesantes como la industria del algodón o el cristal y es recomendable. ¿Puede justificar el desarrollo industrial de una nación el uso ilícito de tecnología propiedad de terceros? ¿Está China siguiendo los pasos de los EEUU del siglo XIX?