NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Volume 10 Number 3 Article 2 Summer 1985 Protection of Intellectual Propert - Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Law in the United States and Abroad Andrew G. Rodau Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj Part of the Commercial Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Andrew G. Rodau, Protection of Intellectual Propert - Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Law in the United States and Abroad, 10 N.C. J. INT'L L. 537 (1985). Available at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj/vol10/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Protection of Intellectual Property-Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Law in the United States and Abroad Andrew G. Rodau * I. Introduction Intellectual property law is an old' and highly specialized body of law that protects original ideas, creative forms of expression, new discoveries or inventions, and trade secrets. This body of law is pre- mised on the idea that to encourage innovation, 2 persons responsi- ble for such advances should be rewarded. The rewards provided © 1985 Andrew G. Rodau • Currently a Law & Humanities Fellow, Temple University School of Law. B.S. 1976, Hofstra University; J.D. 1981, Western New England College School of Law. I One very early patent was granted in Venice in 1469 for book printing.