Patent racism

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Patent racism refers to systemic barriers and discriminatory practices within patent law in the United States that disproportionately affect minority groups, particularly African-American inventors. [1]

Contents

History

Origins and early exclusion

The origins of patent racism in the United States can be traced back to the country's founding and the institution of slavery. Enslaved individuals were legally prohibited from owning patents, effectively denying them recognition and economic benefits for their innovations. [2] In 1858, the U.S. Attorney General ruled that a free African American could not be granted a patent for his invention, based on the interpretation that African Americans were not considered citizens and therefore could not enter into the required patent oath. [3]

Economic historian Sean Vannatta suggests that some key antebellum inventions, such as Eli Whitney's cotton gin and Cyrus McCormick's reaper, were likely influenced by the contributions of enslaved individuals. [4] There is evidence that a slave named Sam and his father provided Whitney with the idea for a comb-like device to remove seeds from cotton for the cotton gin. [5] Similarly, an enslaved man named Jo Anderson is believed to have helped McCormick develop his reaper. [6]

Reconstruction era challenges

Following the American Civil War, African American inventors faced new challenges in the patent system. The period saw a significant decline in patent filings by African Americans, correlating with heightened racial violence and the enforcement of segregation laws. [2] The landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, which legalized "separate but equal" public facilities, coincided with a sharp drop in African American patenting rates. [7]

Impact of racial violence

Research has demonstrated that racial violence significantly impacted African American innovation rates. Lisa Cook's study found that between 1870 and 1940, lynchings and riots were associated with a decline in patent filings by African Americans. [2] The Tulsa race massacre in 1921 led to a notable drop in patent filings by African Americans across the country. [8]

Long-term consequences

The historical exclusion of African Americans from the patent system has had lasting effects. Research estimates that the United States missed out on over 1,100 inventions from black inventors between 1870 and 1940. [8] Additionally, the lack of exposure to innovation among minorities has continued to prevent inventions with potential for significant societal impact. [9]

Notable incidents

Oscar J.E. Stuart and Ned's Cotton Scraper

In 1857, Oscar J.E. Stuart, a lawyer and planter from Mississippi, tried to patent a "double plow and scraper" invented by his slave, Ned. Stuart first attempted to patent the invention in Ned's name and then in his own, but both applications were denied by the Commissioner of Patents. The denial was based on the fact that Ned, as a slave, could not execute the required patent oath, and Stuart could not claim to be the inventor. [10] [11]

Benjamin Boardley and the Steam Engine

Benjamin Boardley, born into slavery around 1830, developed an improved marine steam engine while working at the United States Naval Academy. Due to his status as an enslaved person, Boardley could not legally apply for or be granted a patent for his invention. He ultimately sold the rights to his invention and used the proceeds to purchase his freedom. [12]

Henry Boyd and the Boyd Bedstead

Henry Boyd, born into slavery in Kentucky in 1802, invented the "Boyd Bedstead," a corded bed with wooden rails connected to the headboard and footboard. After purchasing his freedom in 1826, Boyd moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and became a successful businessman. Due to racial prejudices at the time, Boyd believed he would face difficulties obtaining a patent. Consequently, he partnered with a white craftsman, George Porter, who applied for and received the patent on Boyd's behalf in 1833. [13] [14] [15] [16]

Benjamin Montgomery and Jefferson Davis Patent Controversy

In the late 1850s, Benjamin Montgomery, an enslaved inventor, created an improved steamboat propeller for shallow waters. Montgomery was enslaved on the plantation of Joseph Davis, the brother of future Confederate president Jefferson Davis. [17]

In 1857, Jefferson Davis attempted to patent Montgomery's invention, but the U.S. Patent Office rejected the application. [18] Subsequently, Joseph Davis, Montgomery's enslaver, filed his own patent claim, arguing that since Montgomery was his property, the enslaved man's creations must also be his property. The Patent Office rejected this claim as well. [18] The rejection was due to two reasons:

  1. Montgomery, as an enslaved person, was not considered a U.S. citizen and therefore could not hold a patent. [3] [14]
  2. Jefferson Davis could not claim the patent because he was not the true inventor. [18]

In 1861, under Jefferson Davis' leadership, the Confederate States enacted a patent law that formalized slaveholders' ownership of their slaves' inventions. [19] [20] This Confederate Patent Act explicitly allowed slave owners to patent inventions made by their slaves, in contrast to United States patent law, which had previously denied such applications. [18]

On June 28, 1864, Montgomery, no longer a slave, filed a patent application for his device, but the patent office again rejected his application. [21]

This case shows how the patent system denied recognition and economic benefits to African American inventors and reinforced racial inequalities. [22]

Success stories

Despite these barriers, some Black inventors managed to secure patents and recognition for their work.

Modern-Day Patent Racism

Patent racism remains a significant issue in the United States despite advancements in civil rights and anti-discrimination laws. Modern-day patent racism manifests through systemic barriers that disproportionately affect minority groups, particularly African-American inventors. [25] [9] [1]

Disparities in Patent Rates

Studies have highlighted disparities in patent rates between African-American inventors and their white counterparts. From 1970 to 2006, African-American inventors received patents at a rate of six patents per million people, compared to 235 patents per million for all U.S. inventors. [16] This disparity highlights the ongoing challenges faced by African-American inventors in accessing the patent system.

Economic and Social Barriers

Several factors contribute to the lower patenting rates among African-American inventors, including economic and social barriers. African-Americans are more likely to come from lower-income backgrounds, which significantly reduces their likelihood of obtaining patents. A child born to a family below the median income level is ten times less likely to receive a patent in their lifetime compared to a child born to a family in the top one percent of income. [26]

Algorithmic Bias

Modern patent systems also face challenges related to algorithmic bias. Patented algorithms that use public data for racial and ethnic classifications can perpetuate systemic racism present in the underlying datasets. These classification tools, when combined with advertisement-based platforms, risk amplifying existing racial biases. [7]

Impact on Innovation and Economic Growth

The underrepresentation of African-American inventors in the patent system has broader implications for innovation and economic growth. Greater diversity in patenting could unlock a wealth of innovation and economic opportunities that are currently untapped. Addressing racial disparities in patenting could significantly increase overall innovation rates in the United States. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Americans</span> Ethnic and cultural group in the United States

African Americans, also known as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. African Americans constitute the third largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S. after White Americans and Hispanic and Latino Americans. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the United States</span>

The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Slavery was established throughout European colonization in the Americas. From 1526, during the early colonial period, it was practiced in what became Britain's colonies, including the Thirteen Colonies that formed the United States. Under the law, an enslaved person was treated as property that could be bought, sold, or given away. Slavery lasted in about half of U.S. states until abolition in 1865, and issues concerning slavery seeped into every aspect of national politics, economics, and social custom. In the decades after the end of Reconstruction in 1877, many of slavery's economic and social functions were continued through segregation, sharecropping, and convict leasing.

Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. In the US, reparations for slavery have been both given by legal ruling in court and/or given voluntarily by individuals and institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African-American history</span>

African-American history started with the arrival of Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Former Spanish slaves who had been freed by Francis Drake arrived aboard the Golden Hind at New Albion in California in 1579. The European colonization of the Americas, and the resulting Atlantic slave trade, led to a large-scale transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic; of the roughly 10–12 million Africans who were sold by the Barbary slave trade, either to European slavery or to servitude in the Americas, approximately 388,000 landed in North America. After arriving in various European colonies in North America, the enslaved Africans were sold to white colonists, primarily to work on cash crop plantations. A group of enslaved Africans arrived in the English Virginia Colony in 1619, marking the beginning of slavery in the colonial history of the United States; by 1776, roughly 20% of the British North American population was of African descent, both free and enslaved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antebellum South</span> Historical period in the Southern United States from 1815 to 1861

The Antebellum South era was a period in the history of the Southern United States that extended from the conclusion of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. This era was marked by the prevalent practice of slavery and the associated societal norms it cultivated. Over the course of this period, Southern leaders underwent a transformation in their perspective on slavery. Initially regarded as an awkward and temporary institution, it gradually evolved into a defended concept, with proponents arguing for its positive merits, while simultaneously vehemently opposing the burgeoning abolitionist movement.

Benjamin Thornton Montgomery was an American inventor, landowner, and freedman in Mississippi. He was taught to read and write English, and became manager of supply and shipping for Joseph Emory Davis at Hurricane Plantation at Davis Bend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Blair (inventor)</span> American inventor (1807 – 1860)

Henry Blair was the second African American inventor to receive a US patent.

Sarah Elisabeth Goode was an American entrepreneur and inventor. She was one of the first known African American women to receive a United States patent, which she received in 1885 for her cabinet bed.

Dying While Black by Vernellia Randall is a book about the disparities between the health care administered to African Americans and that administered to European Americans. She states that these disparities, the black health deficit, are caused by the continuation of the slave health deficit. She encourages reparation in the form of long term monetary and legal commitments and a comprehensive civil rights health care law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Sokoloff</span> American economist

Kenneth Lee Sokoloff was an American economic historian who was broadly interested in the interaction between initial factor endowments, institutions, and economic growth. In particular, he examined the influence of factor endowments on economic development in the New World and the role of 19th century United States patent law in encouraging innovation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery during the American Civil War</span>

Slavery played the central role during the American Civil War. The primary catalyst for secession was slavery, especially Southern political leaders' resistance to attempts by Northern antislavery political forces to block the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Slave life went through great changes, as the South saw Union Armies take control of broad areas of land. During and before the war, enslaved people played an active role in their own emancipation, and thousands of enslaved people escaped from bondage during the war.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reparations for slavery</span> Political justice concept

Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take many forms, including practical and financial assistance to the descendants of enslaved people, acknowledgements or apologies to peoples or nations negatively affected by slavery, or honouring the memories of people who were enslaved by naming things after them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Southerners</span> African Americans living in the Southern United States

Black Southerners are African Americans living in the Southern United States, the United States region with the largest black population.

The African-American diaspora refers to communities of people of African descent who previously lived in the United States. These people were mainly descended from formerly enslaved African persons in the United States or its preceding European colonies in North America that had been brought to America via the Atlantic slave trade and had suffered in slavery until the American Civil War. The African-American diaspora was primarily caused by the intense racism and views of being inferior to white people that African Americans have suffered through driving them to find new homes free from discrimination and racism. This would become common throughout the history of the African-American presence in the United States and continues to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Legacy Museum</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racial capitalism</span> Post-Marxist social and economic concept

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References

  1. 1 2 Parthasarathy, Shobita. "Racism is baked into patent systems." Nature 587 (2020): 30-31. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03056-z.
  2. 1 2 3 Cook, Lisa D. "Violence and economic activity: evidence from African American patents, 1870–1940." Journal of Economic Growth 19, no. 2 (2014): 221-257.
  3. 1 2 Johnson, Shontavia Jackson. "The Colorblind Patent System and Black Inventors." Landslide 11, no. 4 (2019): 16-21. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2018-19/march-april/colorblind-patent-system-black-inventors/
  4. ↑ Vannatta, Sean. "The Confederate States Patent Office." In Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society, edited by Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick. MIT Press, 2022.
  5. ↑ Lienhard, John H. "Black Inventors." The Engines of Our Ingenuity, Episode 127. University of Houston. https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/127
  6. ↑ Brumfield, Dale M. "Augusta County Slave Co-Invented Reaper That Revolutionized Agriculture." News Leader, May 29, 2018.
  7. 1 2 Nichols, Tiffany. "Patenting automation of race and ethnicity classifications: Protecting neutral technology or disparate treatment by proxy?" in Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society, ed. Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick (2022): 102-125. https://mit-serc.pubpub.org/pub/patenting-bias/release/3
  8. 1 2 Childs, Mary, and Karen Duffin. "Patent Racism." NPR Planet Money, June 12, 2020. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/876097416
  9. 1 2 3 Bell, Alex, Raj Chetty, Xavier Jaravel, Neviana Petkova, and John Van Reenen. "Who becomes an inventor in America? The importance of exposure to innovation." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 134, no. 2 (2019): 647-713.
  10. ↑ Wheelock, Bryan. "A Brief History of Patents & Slavery In Honor of Juneteenth." Harness IP, June 19, 2020. https://www.harnessip.com/blog/2020/06/19/a-brief-history-of-patents-slavery-in-honor-of-juneteenth/
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Tearing Down the Barriers for Black Inventors Begins With Honoring Historic Breakthroughs." Smithsonian Magazine, March 1, 2022. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/tearing-down-barriers-black-inventors-honoring-historic-breakthroughs-180979652/
  12. ↑ Cad Crowd. "Top 101 Black Inventors & African American's Best Invention Ideas." September 7, 2023. https://www.cadcrowd.com/blog/top-101-black-inventors-african-americans-best-invention-ideas-that-changed-the-world/
  13. ↑ Smithsonian Magazine. "With Patents or Without, Black Inventors Reshaped American Industry." February 16, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/with-patents-or-without-black-inventors-reshaped-american-industry-180962201/
  14. 1 2 Lynn, Samara. "Inventions Made by Black Slaves Denied Patents." Black Enterprise, February 7, 2018. https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-history-month-inventions-black-slaves-denied-patents/
  15. ↑ Lost Art Press. "Henry Boyd – A Remarkable Life." March 13, 2022. https://blog.lostartpress.com/2022/03/13/henry-boyd-a-remarkable-life/
  16. 1 2 Johnson, Shontavia Jackson. "The Colorblind Patent System and Black Inventors." Landslide 11, no. 4 (2019): 16-21. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2018-19/march-april/colorblind-patent-system-black-inventors/#:~:text=The%20Patent%20Office%20ultimately%20rejected,not%20take%20the%20inventor's%20oath.
  17. ↑ The Black History Channel. "Benjamin Montgomery, Slave Inventor." July 5, 2013. https://theblackhistorychannel.com/2013/benjamin-montgomery-slave-inventor/
  18. 1 2 3 4 Frye, Brian L. "Invention of a Slave." Syracuse Law Review 68, no. 1 (2018): 181-224.
  19. ↑ Mihm, Stephen. "How the Patent Office Helped to End Slavery." Bloomberg, February 8, 2013. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-02-08/how-the-patent-office-helped-to-end-slavery
  20. ↑ Frye, Brian L. "The Confederate Patent Act (1861)." In Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society, edited by Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick. MIT Press, 2022. https://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/2311333/c011609_9780262281959.pdf
  21. ↑ Turnipseed, Cassie Sade (August 2016). Creating a Commemorative Site on the Heritage and Memory of Cotton Pickers in the Mississippi Delta: a Community Driven Moment (PhD thesis). Middle Tennessee State University . Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  22. ↑ Swanson, Kara W. "Race and Selective Legal Memory: Reflections on Invention of a Slave." Columbia Law Review 120, no. 4 (2020): 1077-1118.
  23. ↑ "Thomas Jennings". Lemelson-MIT Program. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  24. ↑ "Milestones in U.S. patenting - Cloned". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  25. ↑ Johnson, Shontavia Jackson. "The Colorblind Patent System and Black Inventors." Landslide 11, no. 4 (2019): 16-21.
  26. ↑ Fechner, Holly, and Matthew S. Shapanka. "Closing Diversity Gaps in Innovation: Gender, Race, and Income Disparities in Patenting and Commercialization of Inventions." Covington & Burling LLP, June 2018. https://www.cov.com/-/media/files/corporate/publications/2018/06/closing_diversity_gaps_in_innovation_gender_race_and_income_disparities_in_patenting_and_commercialization_of_inventions.pdf
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