!032994 First technical patent ever - from 1421 Here's a real good patent trivia question. Who was the first person in history to receive a technical invention patent, and for what invention? An article on patenting in the computer era appears in the Fall 1993 issue of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston "Regional Review" (the article itself is quite good, and the issue can be obtained by calling 617-973-3397). To quote: "Filippo Brunelleschi, the architect of Florence's remarkable cathedral, won the world's first patent for a technical invention in 1421. Brunelleschi was a classic man of the Renaissance: tough-minded, multi-talented and thoroughly self-confident. He claimed he had invented a new means of conveying goods up the Arno River (he was intentionally vague on details), which he refused to develop unless the state kept others from copying his design. Florence complied, and Brunelleschi walked away with the right to exclude all new means of transport on the Arno for three years. That Florence acceded to Brunelleschi's demands is hardly surprising. The Italian Renaissance city-states, locked in a struggle for wealth and power, habitually gave monopolies to those who would build a needed bridge or mill, or who introduced some useful craft or industry. They would issue "letter patents" public declarations that openly (patently) announced the privilege. What distinguished Brunelleschi's bargain was invention - he was awarded the exclusive use of his own creation. (more on Brunelleschi can be found in "Brunelleschi's Patent", Journal of the Patent Office Society 28 (1946), page 109. Greg Aharonian Internet Patent News Service