Since Congress enacted the Nation's first patent statute in 1790, the U.S.
patent system has promoted the technological and economic development of the
United States by stimulating innovation and investment in technology. For
over two hundred years, the patent system has functioned to reward inventors
and stimulate technological advances pursuant to its Constitutional grant of
authority "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".

The basic incentive of the patent system remains as valid today as it did
to the framers of the Constitution. As new technologies emerge, the lure of a
patent not only fosters research and development, but also permits inventors
to attract the necessary capital and resources to bring the fruits of
ingenuity to the marketplace for society's use. As the inventor Abraham
Lincoln once so aptly said: "The patent system added the fuel of interest
to the fire of genius."

Go PTSC! Bring it USPTO! lol

GLTA

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