““Patent law is a very interesting form of property,” she says. “With all other forms of property, you have ownership rights; but along with them, you have responsibilities.” If you build a building that falls down or a car engine that blows up, you can be sued by both the buyers and government agencies. This is not true in the case of patent owners. “Patent law is a kind of ownership law in which there is no liability,” says Shiva. “There’s no responsibility. There are only rights to exclude others from the use of whatever is your patent.””
![“Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then [these?], any man might instantly use what another had invented; so that the inventor had no special advantage from his own invention. The patent system changed this…” quote by Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/449/abraham-lincoln-88_adoption_next-came-the-patent-laws-these-began-in_1828.jpg)
