History of Intellectual Property...

So I tried to think of something out of the ordinary that was new and unique, but came up with zilch. Then I thought, what about the oldest recorded examples for each type of IP we've talked about in class...here ya go, all via the infamous wikipedia.

Oldest Patent:
In 500 BC, in the Greek city of Sybaris (located in what is now southern Italy), "encouragement was held out to all who should discover any new refinement in luxury, the profits arising from which were secured to the inventor by patent for the space of a year." [22]
Patents in the modern sense originated in 1474, when the Republic of Venice enacted a decree by which new and inventive devices read more...

Oldest copyright:

The concept of copyright originates with the Statute of Anne (1710) in Britain. It established the author of a work as the owner of the right to copy that work and the concept of a fixed term for that copyright. It was created as an act "for the encouragement of learning" read more...

Oldest trademark:

Zildjian, the cymbal and gong company, owns the oldest continuously used U.S. trademark -- it should be noted, however, that the first two hundred years of the use of the Zildjian trademark were in Turkey as the family moved to the United States. Venetian glass blowers are thought of as using the longest continuously used trademarks. Wieliczka, a salt mine in Poland, is reported to be the source of the oldest known trademark (circa 1241 A.D.) -- even though this trademark read more...

History of Trade secrets in a legal context:

Legal development to protecting trade secrets
A relatively recent development in the United States is the adoption of the UTSA, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which has been adopted by approximately 45 states as the basis for trade secret law. Another significant development in U.S. law is the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 read more...

One we've talked about in class, but named a little different here in the wiki...trade dress:

Industrial design rights are intellectual property rights that protect the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three dimensional form containing aesthetic value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used read more...