State policy,institutional framework and technical monopoly in early modern Spain: invention patents in the Crown of Aragon during the seventeenth century

This paper examines invention patents in the Crown of Aragon during the seventeenth century. Patents were granted by the Council of Aragon, the Royal Council responsible for political and legal issues arising in the Spanish territories belonging to the Crown of Aragon. The Council's functions in the area of patents arose out of the monarchy's interest in extending the validity of royal patents from Castile to Aragon in order to enhance its control over technical discoveries and developments, and to raise fresh revenues for the treasury. Both foreign and Castilian inventors applied for patents, which were immediately applicable, but the privileges they entailed were accepted only with difficulty by the Aragonese institutions. This reluctance severely curtailed the number of applications. Meanwhile, the Council's desire to cooperate with the monarchy led it eventually to define criteria for the grant of patents. However, the legal and institutional structure of the Crown of Aragon made it difficult for inventors to enforce and defend their rights. The lack of new patent applications to the Council in the later seventeenth century illustrates how the existence of a separate jurisdiction obstructed the consolidation of a patents system in the Crown of Aragon, hindering the spread of technical progress in Spain.