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The Economist et la controverse sur les brevets, 1850-1875 The Economist and the Patent Controversy, 1850-1875DOI: 10.4000/lisa.2187 Keywords: invention , brevets , propriété intellectuelle , propriété industrielle , diffusion du savoir , idéologie anti-monopoliste , législation sur les brevets , monopole , progrès économique , progrès technologique , intellectual property , industrial property , technology , patent , knowledge , legislation , monopoly , progress , XIXe siècle , 19th century , société , Grande-Bretagne , society , Great Britain , media , médias , histoire , history , économie , economy Abstract: The opening of Great Exhibition of 1851 coincided with the start of a long debate on the law of patents. The question was whether patents were an encouragement to economic development or a hindrance. For The Economist which had been founded a few years earlier in the wake of the debate on the Corn Laws, the straightforward answer was that they were a hindrance and should be abolished. This article examines the arguments used by The Economist and shows that its analysis technological progress in the Victorian industry foreshadowed some of today’s concerns.
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