The evolution of the inventiveness requirement

This book follows the requirement of inventiveness (in patent law) in its historical evolution, that is, from the very first moment that we can distinguish its contours up to the present day. In doing so, it focuses on three aspects in particular: what are the historical phases that can be discerned in the requirement’s evolution? What are the socio-economic and political forces that have determined or influenced its course? And how can (dis)similarities between the jurisdictions under examination (i.e. the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands) be explained?
For reasons of structure and overview, the book is divided into two parts. The first describes the evolution in its first three phases: the medieval, the mercantilist and the pre-modern ones. The latter is dedicated to the modern phase and pays particular attention to two different ‘schools’ that have developed in the 19th century and that continue to be relevant for the doctrine’s direction, even today. It will be argued that this dichotomy, that in this book is dubbed the qualitative - quantitative divide, has gradually merged into a hybrid approach that is rather qualitative in its appearance, but quantitative in its application.