From Living Networks (the book) by Ross Dawson comes this Fun Fact:

In 1421, the government of Florence award the world’s first patent to Filippo Brunelleschi for a means of bringing goods up the usually unnavigable river Arno to the city. He demanded and was duly awarded legal protection for his invention, being given the right for three years to burn any competitor’s ship that incorporated his design. (p. 92)

How brutal and primitive! Now, of course, we take a much more civilized approach to patent infringement: We sue, destroying not just the boat but the factory, the business, the distributors’ business, and the future ability of all those who ever worked on the infringing object to earn a living ever again…unless of course the boat could be used for terrorist purposes in which case we can whisk the inventor and manufacturer away to get a twelve year tan at Guantanamo.

BTW, the source Ross cites says that before this first patent, inventors and scientists “used ciphers such as Leonardo’s mirror-image script” to protect their ideas. Now, of course, writing backwards violates the US PATRIOT Act.

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